Missing Chains
by Amicus Mortis
Summary: Shortly before the events of Chain of Memories, Xemnas discovered through Aqua's armor that a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony had been performed for Rainfell. Desiring the power of that Keyblade, he ordered that the wielder be taken, and her memory erased. As Sora entered Castle Oblivion, Kairi was told she had lost her heart and must join Organization XIII to regain it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I do not own Kingdom Hearts and any characters, worlds, or such inside of it. If I did, this plot- the only thing I do own- might be canon and you'd probably all hate me. Or love me. Only time will tell.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_~Day 23~_

A world that exists in the shadows, blocked off to the rest of existence. A world so empty of people to reflect the emptiness of the few that reside within it. A world where those rejected by both light and darkness gather. A world wherein is the heart of nothing. A world that never was. This world was home to Organization XIII, a people whose sole wish in their half-life was to obtain Kingdom Hearts, and thus gain hearts of their own, taking them from their Nobody state and turning them into humans again, so that they could truly, finally exist.

Looking over the city that blanketed the entirety of this world was a white castle, the haven of the Nobodies. One corner of this castle was a place known as the Addled Impasse, where one wall was completely glass and allowed a view out into the eternal night sky. It was in this room where No. VII of the Organization, The Lunar Diviner, Saïx, awaited the return of one he once called friend.

Since he was facing the night sky, his pointed ears were the only warning the blue haired man had when the darkness formed behind him. He turned around, seeing the blackness seem to ooze from the rise of the portal before a man his own age stepped through the portal, holding onto a young girl by the arm and pulling her through as well.

"This is her?" Saïx's voice remained even, but his companion, Axel, knew when he was displeased. It was pretty much all the time. Saïx's golden eyes examined the young girl. Only fourteen years in age, with auburn hair that was hardly past her chin at its longest. She was looking around the room in wonder, her lips slightly parted by her fascination. Her eyes were slightly glazed, and her fists kept tightening and loosening, as if she wasn't sure what to do with them.

Axel crossed his arms, already bored with the situation. "Yep. I doubt she'd even been back from her travel across the worlds for a few hours. She hadn't even visited the mainland of their islands yet. Kept calling out for the Keyblade Master when I brought her to Castle Oblivion. She fell unconscious almost as soon as Naminé started wiping her memory, then she woke like this. It's almost like she can tell something's missing."

"You should not be talking so freely about her."

The fire-haired man scoffed at Saïx's warning. "Puh-lease! She's not paying any attention." To prove his point, Axel used his gloved hand to toss her hair. After several seconds, she seemed to realize her messed up dark strands were obstructing her vision, and she quickly fixed them away from her face before returning to staring at the world around her. She wandered away from the two men, almost unaware they were even there, and meandered to the glass wall. "This makes three zombies in less than a month. Are we that desperate for new people?"

"Xemnas wants her for his own purposes."

"That doesn't sound weird at all." Axel couldn't force down the smirk inside him, though Saïx showed no sign of amusement. "She couldn't even put up any form of fight when I pulled her from Destiny Islands. Why go through all this trouble to watch a Princess of Heart? Unless... you have something else going on?"

"Anyone from Castle Oblivion suited to know will be informed when they return." The pointed look from Saïx to Axel showed the conversation was closed, and Axel better be on his way back to Castle Oblivion. He'd been supposed to go that day anyway before Xemnas had asked them to get the Princess. Muttering to himself about how outrageous it was to let in someone that wasn't a Nobody, Axel followed the silent order and summoned another Corridor of Darkness. After he had walked through it and the portal was gone, Saïx silently turned back to the girl watching out the window. Silently, he came up behind her, standing comically at almost twice her height. "Do you know why you're here?"

The girl never responded, proving that Axel was right: she wasn't hearing a word they were saying. He presumed that if he had a heart, he'd probably be irritated by her obliviousness to her surroundings. He reached out his hand to her small shoulder and quickly turned her around to face him. She seemed at first confused to be facing just a black cloak, but then she looked up to find his face.

When he was sure he had her attention, Saïx began: "You have lost your heart, like all of those who live in this castle." It was a small movement, but the trained eyes of the berserker were certain she'd flinched. "The only way to become complete again is to join us, and help us gain Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts." The girl mouthed the words, testing them on her lips. They felt incomplete.

"Should you so choose, you will join us tomorrow as No. XV."

The girl's fists clenched again, holding tight longer for this time as she squinted her blue eyes in thought... then, she slowly loosed her body, and nodded.

His face still a blank, as it seemed incapable of being anything else, Saïx turned around and made his way to the hall that led away from the room.

Her hand rose to her chest, above where her heart should have been. "Kingdom Hearts."

* * *

_~Day 24~_

Where Nothing Gathers: The meeting place for Organization XIII accessible only through teleportation. Thirteen thrones, one for each true member of Organization XIII, were evenly placed along the circular wall, all at different heights based off of their Nobodies' preference. It was so otherwise blank, it made a perfect reflection of the emptiness those who would sit in it felt. Among the members of the Organization, it was more commonly called the Round Room.

When Roxas had woken up that morning and gone into the Grey Area, where he had so far received all of his missions, one of the first things he had done was ask Saïx when Axel would be back, to which Saïx promptly replied, "Go to the Round Room." Roxas - with his so far undeveloped mind and unknowing of how Saïx disliked anything not in his control, including Roxas - had assumed that this meeting would share of whatever mission Axel had been sent on. Though Roxas wasn't aware of his emotions at the time, anxious is a good enough word for those with hearts to describe how he was feeling as he silently hoped that it would be soon when his friend and mentor would return.

In his eagerness to hear about what would be said, he was among the first in the room. Only Luxord and Xaldin were there when he arrived. He had seen everyone else that hadn't gone to Castle Oblivion, save for the Superior himself, in the Grey Area, so he knew they wouldn't be long. At least, Xigbar and Saïx wouldn't be long. It was kind of impossible to tell for Demyx. And as for Xion, his mysterious, silent companion...

It couldn't be denied that Roxas thought it strange that Xion wouldn't say a word to him on their mission the previous day. Did No. XIV even know how to talk? Well, he was pretty quiet on his first mission, too, so he supposed to couldn't complain.

_'I wonder if we'll be paired up again today...'_ Just as the thought struck him, a cloud of darkness appeared in the middle of the room, and when it faded it revealed Xion, still concealed entirely by the Organization's black cloak; all save for the lips, which smiled up at Roxas before their owner moved to stand below his throne. '_Does No. XIV not have a seat?'_

"Good tidings, friends." Xemnas began. Roxas started. A quick survey of the room showed that Xigbar, Saïx, Demyx, and the Superior had teleported in. Maybe Axel was right about him being so spacey, if he hadn't even noticed that... "Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat."

Though half the room was wishing Xemnas would get a new welcoming speech, and the other half was mentally listing everything they'd need for their respective missions, Roxas's full attention was immediately taken from his curiosity of Axel's mission and suddenly devoted to the person standing on the platform below all the thrones. The small figure's back was turned to him. Instead she was looking up at their Superior on the other side of the room. Still, he couldn't shake the strange sense of familiarity the new member gave him.

"No. XV," Xemnas continued, "Kairi."

* * *

**A/N Thought 1: What if Xemnas found out very early on that Kairi could use a Keyblade?**

**To address the fact that Kairi's name has remained the same, if I had changed it to a Nobody name, combined with the fact that she has no memory, she'd pretty much be an OC. No. She's still Kairi. The in-story reason is that everyone in the Organization, save for Xion and Roxas, know that she's not actually a Nobody, and that she is not a true member. Thus, they have no purpose in changing her name. If Xion, Roxas, and Kairi seem OOC at the moment, please remember they have next to no memories and therefore nothing to base their personality off of. Give them a few chapters, and we should be good to go!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N If you think about it, the Pop-Tarts might not be too much of an exaggeration. If you'd like me to explain, you can PM me.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_~Day 26~_

Her internal clock told her it had been almost two days since she was introduced to the members of Organization XIII that didn't go to... that place... whatever it was called. And, much to her dismay, she had very little to show for those two days. She had spent them inside of the white room - _her room,_ she was told - and did little but sit on the bed and stare at the stars out the window.

She could tell something was missing; but, with it gone, it was impossible to know what. Her only lead was that she had an internal clock; that knowledge had been doing her very little good.

If forty-eight hours wasn't enough time for the answer to just to appear, then she doubted it ever would. Whatever it was, she would have to find it. Even if she wasn't sure what she was looking for yet.

With a sigh for moving her stiff limbs - _Note to self: don't sit still for so long again -_- Kairi swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stood. Just a few seconds of stretching burned the note into her mind. When she felt suitable to move again, she grabbed the black coat from the foot of the bed and threw it on over her other simple black clothing.

Black clothes, white walls... was there any color in this place?

After zipping the coat to a comfortable length, Kairi stepped outside of the door to her room, and found herself in a dimly lit hallway... now what?

Following the sounds of the angry voices seemed good enough. Fixing her hair to stay out of her face as she went, Kairi moved down the hallway, her blue eyes soon catching a light, obscured by four figures in coats identical to her own.

"...at least one of the folks we sent to Castle Oblivion has been terminated." The guy with an eyepatch - she believed his name was Xigbar - was saying as she went over.

_Oh,_ that's _what it's called. Castle Oblivion_.

"Terminated? But that means..." The short one, Roxas, trailed off as Saïx came over to him, demanding that he go on his mission. Roxas almost seemed not to hear. "Is it true about Castle Oblivion?"

"That's no concern of yours."

"But what about Axel?"

Axel? Which one was Axel? A somewhat blurred image of incredibly spiky red hair and upside-down teardrops came to the forefront of Kairi's mind. The one who had brought her to the castle, right?

By the time she had decided that was true, everyone else had gone their separate ways. The one she remembered to be Xaldin was sitting on one of the four couches in the large room; Roxas was standing just to the left of the door, sulking as best one without a heart could; Xigbar and Saïx were standing by a wall completely composed of windows, which, much to Kairi's pleasure, gave a nice view of the stars if you could look past the other parts of the castle that got in the way; and Demyx, someone naught but a few years older than her, was walking past her to get to the hall, muttering something about "terminated" and "bad scene."

While mentally trying to make sense of what she had just witnessed, Kairi walked to the empty set of couches to her right, in a position where she could still look out the window at the droplets of light gleaming at her from the oblivion.

_Terminated... so someone died? I wonder what killed them..._

"Good morning, Princess." Someone said from above her. Kairi turned from the window and found Xigbar standing over her, his entire presence giving off the aura that he was gloating. Over what, she couldn't say. "Great news for you! Since we've lost someone at C.O., Saïx has decided to go on and put you in the field." The field? Kairi glanced back out the window, though this time to the city below them. She didn't see any fields. Xigbar seemed to understand her confusion, because he said, "We're sending you to another world."

This, of course, brought on an onslaught of many more questions. Kairi gave him a look, hoping that he would understand. Of course, he didn't. He just sat there smirking down at her with that freakish yellow eye. Seeing as there was no other way to get her point across, Kairi whispered her first words since she had arrived at the castle. "Other worlds?"

"Yeah, y'know, every star out there is another world."

"You're sending me to a star?"

The old man chuckled at her, and the smirk never left his face. Creepy seemed a decent word to describe it. "You're going with Poppet to Twilight Town for a mobility assessment. Since you've never been on a mission, and she only found out she had a Keyblade yesterday, Saïx wants to test you both to see how much he can dump on you without breaking you."

She knew she should probably be concerned with Saïx possibly working her to death, or trying to figure out who Poppet was, but instead Kairi was concerned over what a Keyblade was. Well, the answer was fairly obvious, it was some sort of knife or sword that looked like a key. Why anyone would use something so ridiculous sounding was beyond her.

A silvery-metallic colored plastic being thrown in her face broke her thoughts, and Kairi immediately slapped at it, as if gravity wasn't going to take care of it for her. The plastic fell into her lap, where she found that it was a wrapper for... Pop-Tarts?

"Eat up. You've got to have _some_ sort of energy for the mission today. Want to do good, don't you?"

Did Xigbar ever stop smirking? She wasn't sure if it was more disturbing or annoying. Ignoring it seemed the best course of action, so Kairi picked up the pack of Pop-Tarts and put her whole focus into opening it and pulling them out.

Well, almost her whole focus. She had too many brain cells to concentrate solely on that. "Do you have to have a heart to be hungry?"

In her opinion, it was a very legitimate question, seeing as she hadn't eaten a thing since arriving in the castle and wasn't feeling any repercussions yet. Xigbar, though, just began laughing again as he turned to leave, assumedly to prep for his own mission. "As if! Lexaeus is as much a Nobody as the rest of us, but he still can eat more than I've ever known a guy too. Actually, we'll probably cut the grocery munny in half if he's the one that got KO'd at Castle Oblivion."

Was termination something truly that humorous to ones without hearts? She'd have to find out. Later. As it was, she knew she should probably eat the Pop-Tarts (no matter how suspicious they were) before "Poppet," whoever that was, was ready for the mission.

Just as she lifted the untoasted breakfast food to her mouth, Demyx ran inside the room, his green eyes widened from... anxiety? "Who took my last Pop-Tart?!"

Kairi stiffened, which immediately brought his attention to her, and the Pop-Tart she was still holding. Before he could move, she pointed over to Xigbar, who was conversing with a recently arrived Luxord. Demyx glanced over to Xigbar, and his shoulders immediately sagged. There was no challenging No. II, not even for his favorite snack. "And that was my last one, too. I'll have to go pick more up later today... wait a minute!" The Melodious Nocturne, as Kairi had heard him be called when Saïx had first told her of all the members, turned to Roxas. No. XIII's sulk had lessened slightly since the arrival of the hooded No. XIV, who he was at that moment talking to. "_Heeeeeey_, Roxas? Wanna drop by Twilight Town after your mission today and get me some more Pop-Tarts? I'll give you..." Demyx quickly reached into the pockets of his coat, dug around for several seconds, then from his pockets produced a roughly cut blueish-purple gem. "This Mythril Shard!"

Roxas's blue eyes fell blankly on the shard, and his nose scrunched in confusion. Xion, too, was looking at it, though she was impossible to read from under her hood. "Why would I want that?"

"You can use it to synthesize stuff at the new shop! Weren't you paying attention when Saïx briefed us on it this morning?" Demyx gestured through the two teens to the Moogle standing behind them. Kairi hadn't even noticed him the whole time she was there, and was more than startled by its presence.

Though he still wasn't entirely sure what synthesizing was, Roxas accepted the shard and agreed to go to Twilight Town after his mission. Immediately following the exchange, Saïx lectured everyone on dawdling, so Roxas and Xigbar left for Agrabah, Demyx went to do whatever it was he would do while pretending to be on a mission, and Xion walked over to Kairi, who was finally finishing up the Pop-Tart.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked.

_Oh, she's Poppet!_ Kairi nodded as she stood, brushing the crumbs of the Poptart from her coat and pocketing the trash, making a mental note to get rid of it later. "What exactly are we doing?"

"Several Organization Emblems are scattered across the Tram Common in Twilight Town." Very few of these words meant anything to Kairi. "We're each supposed to gather ten as fast as we can. I also have to take out some Heartless, but since you're weaponless, you don't have to worry about that."

"And don't forget that this is an undercover operation." Saïx's voice in her ear made Kairi jump from sheer surprise. She turned to the second-in-command, whose eyes were in his version of a glare. "You are not to let any of the civilians know of your presence."

"Incognito. Got it." Kairi nodded rapidly, mostly just hoping he would go away. Thank Kingdom Hearts, he did. "Are we ready?"

Xion nodded, then held out her arm to open a Corridor of Darkness. A chill shot up Kairi's spine at the near darkness, but she didn't let that stop her from following Xion through the portal. When they emerged on the other side a few long minutes later, Kairi unintentionally let out a gasp as she finally realized just what _other worlds_ meant. The quaint, orange-bathed town before her had all the charm and warmth that Organization XIII's castle lacked, and she could only pray she would get more missions here, or on some equally lovely world.

A set of stairs were nearby, and she meandered over to them, leaning against the rail to give herself a full view of the many beautiful houses spread out across the town nestled against the mountain. She could see dozens of people among the buildings, each with a smile to reflect the joy that was radiated off the town, from the twilight strewn sky to the grass hills at the mountain's base.

"I guess we'll meet back here as soon as we finish the mission so we can return to the castle." Well, that killed her moment. Kairi turned to Xion and nodded despite her disappointment. "We might already be on the clock, so you should probably start collecting the emblems as soon as you can. If you keep going down the stairs to the sandlot, then cross over to the street on the other side, you should find the Tram Common."

And with this, Xion left to find the Heartless she was to get rid of, leaving Kairi without a clue as to what the Organization Emblems she was supposed to be collecting were. She could only figure she'd find out as she went. Following Xion's instructions down to the Tram Common, Kairi found herself looking upon an expansive area with several businesses, a few living spaces. Thankfully, it was still early enough that not many people were out and about yet.

She had also figured out what the emblems were. It was kind of hard to miss the floating grey plates with the Organzation's symbol engraved on them. The downside was that they weren't in places anybody just passing by could grab them. The closest one to the ground that she could find in the entire area was on top of a nearby shop that was up a ramp and to the left of where she'd come in. Most of the others were among the rooftops or floating so unnaturally high in the air that she doubted she could jump to reach them.

_You only need ten. _She reminded herself. And she needed to get them quick. Or did she? If she did a bad job, it meant Saïx would be less likely to give her enough work to make her ill... _Stop thinking like that! Don't you want this people to like you? They're your only hope for getting a heart at the moment._ She decided to agree before she could start an inner war, and immediately made a plan for collecting ten emblems in as short a period of time as she could. It ended up being to get the one from the shop nearby, then go up the ramp that was currently to her left, cross the bridge where a few of them waited, and her imagination could fill in where several more would be in that little nook.

Putting the plan into action was a lot harder than simply thinking about it, as she soon found out. Upon trying to pull her herself onto the top of the round, independent candy shop, she realized that she had next to no upper body strength.

After trying and failing to climb atop for nearly ten minutes, Kairi finally dropped herself to the ground and leaned her back against the building, quietly taking deep breaths of air. At this rate, she'd be lucky to get even just a few before the day was over. Though she knew no differently, she had a feeling it wasn't supposed to be taking this long. Surely the others didn't have this hard a time.

The sound of the coming tram caught her attention, and she turned to see it coming around the corner. Her eyes followed the track, and saw it would be coming right by the small shop. And maybe, just maybe, it was tall enough for her to jump from... and if it wasn't, she'd rather not think about the results.

Kairi again stood and flexed her cramping hands as she moved away from the shop and towards the oncoming tram. If she was quick, she could climb up to the top of the car by the time it got over to the shop, and then she could jump over and get on top of it... it was her best bet. The tram-car had more footholds and would be much easier to climb than the building. As it got close, Kairi got herself ready, and as soon as the back was close enough she grabbed on and began pulling herself up. Thankfully, she wasn't _that_ short and just managed to make it on top of the thing as they came up on the candy shop.

Getting her feet under her on the moving vehicle proved much harder than she had expected, and they had almost passed by the time she managed to stand. No time left to worry about distance, Kairi took two steps towards the edge and launched herself over the side to the roof of the shop. While she still found herself impressed by her jumping distance, it wasn't quite good enough. The tramcar had already moved too far away, and Kairi barely managed to grab onto the edge of the roof. Her body slammed into the wall, nearly knocking the wind out of her, but she just managed to keep her hold on the bricks. With her fingers starting to cramp again, she knew she had no time to try and catch her breath. The fall wasn't that far, but it was still the highest she'd gotten so far that day and she wasn't planning to lose this height. She frantically searched the roof until she spotted the emblem. Though she didn't have the strength to pull herself up, maybe she could stretch herself enough to grab it...

Digging her feet into the wall in a fruitless attempt to get a better grip, Kairi slowly released one hand. Gravity seemed to double, and her remaining arm began to ache. She couldn't have but seconds until she was forced to let go. Sweat was starting to form on her forehead and the back of her neck as she stretched her hand forward, desperate to lock around the emblem. Too short.

Releasing one of her legs from the wall, she planted it a bit higher so that it was bent. Then, as she slowly extended it, she rose only a few inches, but it was just enough to lock her hand around the Organization Emblem. As her black-gloved hand closed around it, it faded into nothingness, leaving nothing but air in its wake and a grin on Kairi's face. One down, nine to go!

Kairi's cramping fingers slipped from the edge of the roof, and in a blur of black she landed on her rear, releasing a pained yelp. It was going to be a very long day.

* * *

"To remember again, we have to sleep in that?" Donald looked in near disbelief at the opened pod at the center of the room. Naminé turned back to him, smiling reassuringly.

"Yes. It's going to take a little time, but I'll take care of you."

A frown came upon Goofy's face as he lifted a hand to his chin in thought. "Gawrsh, when we wake up, we won't remember who you are anymore..."

A similar expression was on Donald's face. The arrangement was seeming worse and worse the more they learned about it. "But how are we going to thank you?"

"Don't worry about that!" Jiminy called everyone's attention to where he stood on Sora's shoulder. Sora himself looked the least happy about what they were going to do, but Jiminy was actually smiling. "I'll just make a big note in my journal. And it will say, 'Thank Naminé.'"

Suddenly, the air seemed a thousand times lighter.

"Oh, good. That makes me feel better."

Goofy nodded his head in agreement, and he and the duck waved to the frail witch as they turned to leave. "Well, goodnight, then, Naminé."

"Goodnight, Goofy." Naminé clasped her hands in front of her as they walked away, then bit her lip. It was time. Regretfully, she turned to the boy standing beside her, forcing a smile to her lips. "You too, Sora."

"Okay." Sora nodded and flashed her a smile, sending a wave of what she imagined was a Nobody's version of guilt through her. He walked the last few steps to the pod and got a grip on it, preparing to pull himself up.

Naminé nervously walked behind him, watching as he prepared to go into slumber. Their last conscious moments together. Not that he'd remember it. But still, she couldn't just let him go away. Even if he didn't remember it, she still wanted to have closure. "All of this may have started with a lie... but I really am glad that I can meet you, Sora."

He hesitated getting into the pod. Excitement shot through her, though she knew deep down that it was wrong to be thinking in such a way. "Yeah, me too. When I finally found you, and even when I remembered your name, I was happy. The way I felt then..." He turned back to her, another smile that burned her being, "that was no lie."

If only.

"Sora... there's something else I really need to tell you." _I might as well clear my conscious while I still can..._

"Sure, what is it?"

"Remember how I told you... about how there was someone else? The one who's most special to you?"

"'Course I do."

Why did every word he say have to drive a stake through her chest? "I'm so, so sorry, Sora, but I..." Naminé couldn't even make eye contact with him anymore. Her gaze drifted down to her sandals as she began to drive the toe of one into the ground.

A hand on her shoulder made her start, and she quickly looked up and found herself looking into his blue eyes. She gently stepped away from his hand, shaking her head. "What is it, Naminé?"

"I didn't just mess with your memories, Sora. There was someone else."

"Who?" After several seconds of silence, she dared to look back up at him. A new hurt overcame his features as her earlier words sunk in. "_Her?_"

"Yes." Naminé's hands were shaking, but she refused to look away now. "Just before you entered the castle, Organization XIII made me completely erase her memory."

"So... I don't remember her, and she doesn't remember me..." Sora turned away, much to Naminé's relief. A hand went to his chin and the other hand to his elbow as he thought. "It's almost like we never knew each other."

Naminé could see where this was going, and, despite the joy at the fact that he could possibly stay, she knew it wouldn't be right. "I didn't just erase _you_ from her, Sora. I scattered all the chains of her memory. She remembers _nothing._ Not of you, not of Riku, not of your islands... and she's with the rest of the Organization XIII members that weren't here at Castle Oblivion." Sora stiffened. That definitely got through. "I really don't know what they want with her. I didn't ask questions. They took her back to their main castle after I wiped her memories. That was three days ago."

"Then I can't go to sleep!" Sora suddenly whirled on her, making Naminé step back in surprise. "If she's really that special, then I can't just take a nap while she's stuck with _them._"

"Attacking them won't do any good. You only remember how to fight here in Castle Oblivion. The cards will be useless in any other world." It was slow, but Sora's face became full of... hopelessness. His shoulders sagged and he looked down at the floor. Naminé continued, "And she doesn't remember you either. How can you be sure she'd accept your rescue?"

"What do you want me to choose?" Sora muttered. Her fists clenched to avoid any other sign of her frustration. She knew she was playing both sides, but she honestly didn't know what she wanted him to choose. Silence followed them, but then, Sora finally made eye contact with her again. "Can you fix her memories?"

"I wouldn't be able to start until you've woken, so that you can go and get her back, but by that point you'll have forgotten about me and her memory loss..." _Stop playing both sides,_she chided herself. "It will take time. But I can."

"Well, I guess I better hurry up and get this over with so _we_ can go save her, huh?" This time, Sora's grin didn't hurt, but instead put a smile on her face as well. "When I wake up, I'll find you. And then there will be no lies. We're gonna be friends for real. Promise me, Naminé."

Her hands went behind her back as she looked down at the floor again. Darn her shyness. "You're going to forget making that promise."

"If the chain of memories comes apart, the links will still be there, right? So the memory of our promise will always be inside me somewhere. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, it's a promise."

* * *

Much to Kairi's embarrassment, Xion was already waiting for her when she returned to the side street very late that day. "Very late in the day," going by her internal clock, of course. The sun hadn't moved an inch. The Kingdom Key was in Xion's hand, being twirled by the wielder in her boredom. Looking at one, Kairi could guess the Keyblade wasn't as bad a weapon as she first thought.

"Sorry it took so long." Kairi apologized as she brushed a strand of her sweaty red hair from her eyes. "It... was a trying assessment."

Xion only nodded as the Keyblade vanished from her hand. She stood, straightened her hood, then lifted her arm out to summon the Corridor of Darkness. Kairi's sweat-covered body instantly chilled at the feel of the darkness. It made her want to stay in Twilight Town all the more. She forced herself to think of other things, namely getting a shower, as she followed Xion through the corridor and back to the castle, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when they finally arrived. They were back in the room they'd left in... the Grey Area, Kairi thought they called it.

"Is Roxas back?" Xion immediately went over to Xigbar, who had been lounging on one of the couches in bliss before the two girls had arrived.

"Back in his room and dead to the world. He passed out cold just as we..." He faded out as Xion suddenly ran from the Grey Area into the hall. Kairi was debating if she was supposed to follow when Xigbar said, "So, Princess, how'd it go?"

Kairi got the feeling that he was only asking because of how clearly miserably she looked. He no doubt already knew the results of the assessment. If someone was going to tease her for it, let it be later. Kairi silently walked past him and to the dark hall that would take her to her room, and thus away from his smirking eye.

It was only after she had closed her door that she realized why Xion had run off. "Wait, what happened to Roxas?!"

* * *

**A/N All but plot belongs to Square Enix and Disney. Oh, the Pop-Tarts don't either. Those belong to Kellogg's.**

**Important to note: Unlike Roxas, Kairi was not recently "born" empty. She simply had her memories stripped. Thus, she is still more knowledgeable in some areas.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_~Day 27~_

"That song is horrible," Xion muttered as she plopped down on the couch beside Kairi. Sitting just a few feet away from them was Demyx, playing his Sitar and singing a sad song about a boy who only wanted some Poptarts, and he paid a guy in advance to go get him some, but then the guy went comatose and now he was _so freaking hungry!_ "Do you not even care about Roxas?"

"I'm sure he's fine. My stomach, on the other hand..."

"It is kind of a dumb song," Kairi interrupted him. Demyx simply waved her off.

"I lose quality when I'm hungry. Blame it on Roxas."

"What's my mission today?" Xion was more than willing to ask Saïx when he entered the Grey Area. Though her lips were the only thing visible under her hood, they clearly betrayed her anger and annoyance at Demyx. "I'm ready to leave as soon as permitted."

As Demyx added another verse to his song about the guy he hired to get the Poptarts having a grouchy, overprotective girlfriend, Kairi followed Xion over to Saïx, who seemed completely unaffected by the disgruntled manner the three were in.

"Xion, you will be going to Agrabah today to collect hearts. Kairi, you and Xigbar are to go and do recon in Twilight Town."

"Recon of what?" Kairi asked. Xion seemed to know the area well enough when they went the day before, and she was a newbie to Organization XIII. Surely everyone else had plenty of knowledge of the place. Saïx, though, didn't bother to answer Kairi's question and simply gestured to Xigbar, who was finishing his business with the Moogle. It seemed to Kairi that verbal responses were looked down upon in the Organization, because Xion didn't even bother to say goodbye as she disappeared into a portal for her mission.

"You ready to go, Princess?" Xigbar came up behind Kairi and gave her that obnoxious smirk. At least, it seemed obnoxious after seeing it so much. She nodded and followed him into a Corridor of Darkness. She was sort-of getting used to the feeling of the darkness washing over her... though she doubted she'd ever get completely used to it. Honestly, it still made her want to throw-up. Did the other members get sick around it like she did?

"How about we split up?" Xigbar asked as they came out of the portal and into a wondrously familiar place. While a different part of Twilight Town than Kairi had been in before, and most certainly higher, it was definitely the same. To her right was a building with a large clocktower that stood majestically above the rest of the town - she recalled seeing it the day before, and knew she really wasn't that far away from her prior destination - and to the left was a drop, the open air allowing a perfect view over many of the sunbathed streets. "Hello? No. XV? Still with me?"

"Hm?" Kairi quickly looked up from where she was leaning on the rail and over to Xigbar, who was shaking his head at her with a palm over his face. Why was he doing that? All she'd been doing was looking over the town. Wasn't that what they were supposed to be doing?

"I'm gonna go into the underground passages, you stay above ground and check out the place. Meet me back here in three hours to RTC."

"But what am I looking for?" She asked as he moved to the passage marked _5_ beside the building, which she could finally see was a tram station. Xigbar seemed not to have heard her - jeez, he was quick! - and had continued on his merry way. Wonderful.

Sitting up there for three hours seemed hardly an option. Kairi hadn't a clue what she was supposed to be looking for, but at least walking around would probably earn her better credit than staying there until Xigbar got back. Either way, though, it didn't seem like today would be a redeeming day for her horrible performance the day before. At least no one had said anything about that yet.

Maybe _that_ was what she could do! If she was going to get better at missions like that, she'd have to get some strength to be able to climb the buildings like she'd been supposed to be doing, and it was as good a day to start as any.

They had left later than she had left the previous day, so it was far too late to try and do anything in Tram Common. Almost the whole town was awake by this point. But what about the back alley she and Xion had appeared on? It was probably her best option. Very few people, if any, would be traveling back there, especially so early in the day. Finally having decided on this, Kairi pushed herself back from the rail and made her way to the path that led away from the station. Nearly halfway down the hill she found the opening into the alley, and, just as she'd been hoping, it was completely empty.

Objective: Climb on top of the _3 _entrance into the underground concourse.

A compartment of some sort - a dumpster, going by the smell, but she had no desire to open it to check - was already sitting by the entrance and provided a nice step. But even with that, she was still too short to even grab the edge of the top of the tunnel. Fortunately, a pipe would provide at least a semi-easy way of climbing up.

Again, thinking about it was allot easier than actually doing it.

"This is so stupid!" She was muttering to herself ten minutes later. All she'd managed to do was make her hands turn red and break skin on her palms and knees from her falls. She'd have to ask Xion - there was no way she was asking Xigbar or Demyx, and thus opening herself up for more taunts - but she was pretty sure most Organization XIII members were a lot stronger than that. "That fence over by the stairs will probably be easier..."

A chill shot up her spine. A very familiar one. She'd felt it enough times while with the Organization to know exactly what it meant. Her stomach turned as the edges of her vision blurred, and she put a hand over her mouth as if it would stop her from puking, which she had no doubt she would do if it grew any worse.

Darkness.

Kairi whirled around, and found herself looking at a creature far more foul than she'd ever thought to exist. It's head only came up a little past her knees, but its size hardly mattered to the girl with no defense. Two black antennae dangled as if broken above its head, and its clawed hands danced in excitement as its pupilless yellow eyes settled on her.

Three more spawned behind it, and Kairi could feel the presence of a much worse darkness forming in the tunnel behind her. She dared a glance over her shoulder, but all she needed to start running was to see the arm larger than _her._

The little shadows slapped at her heels as she dashed past them, but all failed to hit their target. Kairi made for the stairs that would take her to the sandlot, but her growing nausea clued to her that these creatures were much faster than she was. She'd likely never make it.

A quick turn on her heel and Kairi was on the other side of the wire fence, slamming the gate shut and slipping the lock into place. She stumbled backwards, hands across her stomach as the feeling grew worse.

Four splotches moved across the ground, lining up on the other side of the fence. Kairi's lungs seemed determined not to work for her, and she was already gasping for breath as the splotches stood, the four shadows gazing at her through the fence. It surprised her that, if they could go flat into the ground like that, they didn't just move under the fence. Not that she was complaining.

The hand that was large enough to break her skull with its grip was the first to swing into view, soon followed by the rest of the large body of the monster. Kairi could feel the blood drain from her face at the sight of the blue and maroon beast. Sitting atop its round figure was a black head with those horrific yellow eyes, guarded by armor.

This thing was more than capable of ripping the fence apart. Kairi took several nervous steps back, her feet scraping across clay ground, until she bumped into something. Something that tainted her vision white, and made bile creep up into her throat. The heavy black coat did nothing to stop the sudden coldness racing across her body, and Kairi nearly screamed. She jumped forward and quickly turned back to the monster. Though her hair had fallen in her eyes, she could still see between the strands of auburn just enough to make it out. It was another shadow, though this one taller than she was. Its antennae draped all the way to the ground, its eager body bounced in wait, and the claws... big enough to rip straight through her.

Kairi didn't dare waste another second. She practically collided with the fence when she came upon it, and her shaking hands barely managed to grab onto the wire and hoist herself up, her feet finding its way into the holes and giving her the support to climb it. She hadn't even gotten halfway up when the claw came down upon her shoulder.

Her scream was cut short when she hit the ground, the wind knocked out of her. She gasped for breath, gasped from the pain, and silently begged the creatures to leave her alone. The pain in her lungs was nothing compared to that in her shoulder, which was sticky and hot from the blood rushing through and out of it.

No other attack came. As her breath slowly returned to her, the wretched feeling in her stomach dissipated, and when Kairi dared to open her eyes again, the creatures were gone.

"You alright, Princess?" That horrid, taunting voice had never been so welcome. Kairi roughly - painfully - sat up as Xigbar dropped down from the rooftops, the smirk still planted on his face. "I can't leave you alone for fifteen minutes, huh?"

She was in no mood to try and retort. Her hand went to the back of her head, which she assumed she had hit in her fall, and immediately the fingers of her gloves started sticking together from the blood. And then, of course, there was her shoulder. While she knew the darkness was nowhere nearby, she still felt incredibly lightheaded. She feared she might pass out if she didn't stop the bleeding soon. "Did you get rid of all of them?"

"Yep. They were all small ones, anyway, save for the Neoshadow."

"Neoshadow...?" The word was foreign to her lips. "But, what are they?"

"You haven't caught on yet?"

"No..."

Xigbar chuckled and crossed his arms. It more than slightly irritated Kairi that he made no move to help her, even though she was very clearly in pain. "Those are what we call Heartless."

Placing the arm of her uninjured shoulder on the wall, Kairi carefully stood, doing her best to not upset the wound. "I heard Xion mention them. What are they?"

"Heartless are the very opposite of Nobodies. I'm hoping you know by now that you became the way you are by losing your heart?" Kairi nodded, so Xigbar continued, "Well, what happens to those hearts is that they become wrapped in darkness, and turn into one of those things."

"So you could have just killed my heart when you killed that... neo-whatever?"

"As if! Your Heartless would never be as strong as one of those."

_Jeez, thanks._ "So why was Xion sent to eliminate Heartless yesterday? Why would you care unless they're attacking you?"

"As I'm sure you know by now, Xion and Roxas wield very special weapons called Keyblades. Unlike my Arrowguns, whenever a Heartless is killed by the Keyblade, the hearts don't just find their way into another Heartless, but instead collect into-"

"Kingdom Hearts," Kairi finished for him, having mentally put the puzzle together. She grimaced as she tried to adjust her coat so that it wasn't irritating her shoulder wound. It only made it worse, and tears stung her eyes from the pain. But she _refused_ to give Xigbar a reason to irritate her. "Which is how we plan to get our own hearts back."

"You catch on quick, Princess." Xigbar grinned, then held out his hand and opened a Corridor of Darkness. "My healing magic really isn't anything grand, so I'd be pretty much be useless trying to heal _that_. Wanna have a whack at it yourself?"

"I can't use magic. I can't use anything!" _Completely useless..._

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait till we get back to the castle, since I don't make a habit of carrying potions around. Never really need 'em."

"Your face suggests otherwise." Not waiting to hear a retort, Kairi stormed into the Corridor of Darkness. She was in too much pain to acknowledge the darkness that was making her stomach knot up again. Of course, her pain at the moment was nothing compared to when Xigbar slung his arm around her shoulder. A pained cry escaped her, and when he squeezed the shoulder that had gotten cut, she bit her tongue to avoid screaming. A metallic taste flooded her mouth, and a tear formed at the corner of her eyes. _Don't cry, don't cry...!_

"Let's go, Princess!" Xigbar sneered at her as he guided her through the corridor and back to the castle. Kairi dared a glance up at him, and, despite her pain, she was pleasantly surprised to find she had finally wiped the smirk off his scarred face.

* * *

"Naminé must have begun her work..." Saïx noted as he and Xemnas looked down upon the young boy's body. Completely dead to the world.

"Will he wake from this?"

"I am told he will, provided she strips the hero of all his memories."

"Then much hinges on Castle Oblivion."

"We needn't stop collecting hearts." Saïx was quick to assure his Superior. "Number XIV has gained power over the Keyblade, just as we intended. Xion can fill Roxas's shoes for the time being."

"What of No. XV? Have we had any progress with her?"

"The Keyblade did disappear when it was brought near her the first night she was here, so we know it is in her possession. Unfortunately, she so far seems unable to summon it, even to the point of succumbing to the Heartless when we directed them towards her in Twilight Town."

"We must continue until she is able to wield it. It is a Keyblade I will not let escape me again." Xemnas waited several moments to let his words settle before continuing. "And what of the chamber? Have you found it?"

"No, sir. I would say progress is slow...if we had actually made any."

Xemnas nodded slowly, then turned his shoulder so that he was partly facing Saïx, though the majority of his attention was still on the sleeping Roxas. "Even if things turn to the worst at Castle Oblivion, we must continue looking for Naminé. We still need thirteen, and with however many have been lost at Castle Oblivion, we are currently falling far short."

Saïx nodded to this. Then, when no more words were passed between the two, he turned and exited the room silently. Xemnas didn't pay it any mind. He was still focused on Roxas's far too familiar face. "So, sleep has taken you yet again... Ventus..."

* * *

_~Day 28~_

"Thanks very much." Kairi said to the Moogle as she pocketed the three potions she had just bought from him. The Moogle didn't respond. Oh well, she'd gotten what she wanted. There was _no way_ she was going to get caught in the middle of a bunch of Heartless without some way of healing herself again. Despite the potion she'd taken when she got back, and the cure spell Xion had cast on her, Kairi swore she could still feel the Neoshadow's claws in her shoulder. She shuddered just thinking about being near another one.

Counting the rest of the munny she had as she went (Saïx had given her some when she'd first joined the Organization) Kairi wandered over to one of the sets of couches, where Demyx was playing a much happier song than he had the day before. He must have gotten someone to go and get him those Poptarts, which Kairi was more than happy for, since she didn't have to hear him whine about it anymore. After she pocketed the munny, she glanced over the room. Saïx hadn't arrived yet to give out the missions. Not that she was all that eager to go. So far, it seemed only she and Demyx were awake in the entire castle.

_I guess I could get a bit more rest before they show up. If I'm having to run away from those Heartless again... _Kairi shuddered at the thought. pulled her hood over her eyes to help block out the light, then leaned back on the couch and slowly started drifting off.

"Whoa! You know Simple and Clean too?" Demyx's outburst made Kairi start, and the hood flew away from her face as she sprung up. Her frantic blue eyes landed on the grin on his face, and his green eyes locked on her. "Finally, someone else in this castle knows music!"

"Wh-What?"

"You were humming the song!" Was she? She'd never even heard it before. "What other Utada Hikaru songs do you know? Can you sing?"

Kairi's mouth opened, then closed. Open, close. She was at a total loss as to what to say, until a voice whispered in her ear, "I suggest you forget anything and everything you know about music, unless you want him to be nagging you until Kingdom Hearts come."

How did Xigbar just appear out of nowhere like that?! And why was he always so intent on scaring her? Heat flared to her cheeks thinking about what he had done the day before when he intentionally hit her shoulder injury. But, Demyx was a bit more scary at the moment. Kairi quickly got to her knees on the couch to look over the back of it. Xigbar was standing by the window, looking out at the world beyond. "Did we ever figure out what happened with the Castle Oblivion group?"

Xigbar simply "Hn"ed, as if he couldn't care less. More heat came to Kairi's face from sudden anger. She had never actually met any of them - aside from Axel, who she hardly remembered - but Xigbar had been in the Organization with them for who knows how long! How could he not care?

"Xigbar, do you know what happened to the Castle Oblivion group?" Xion asked as she walked into the room. Kairi looked back up at Xigbar, hoping that with the both of them asking maybe he'd actually answer.

Wish granted. "They're all toast." His voice still had it's usual who-gives-crap tone, despite the meaning of his words.

"But... what killed them?"

"Hah, with that group, I wouldn't be surprised if they all killed each other. Never were the brightest bunch."

Before either of the girls could press for facts or get angry at how completely uncaring he was on the subject, Saïx decided to show up and rush everyone off to their missions. Kairi, unfortunately, was with Xigbar again.

* * *

_~Day 29~_

_Hundreds of flowers, nearly everywhere you looked. A fountain of crystal water. A castle looking down on the city decorated in all colors from every end of the spectrum._

_Light. Warm, welcoming, pure light._

_Monsters. A domed mask concealing the face of the origin of her troubles. Red eyes. Darkness._

_Blue hair, blue eyes, a soft voice... a weapon both terrifying and beautiful._

Rainfell.

_Steel-colored hair. A single, bright eye. An absent voice. Two small fingers locked together in a promise._

The dream faded away as Kairi quickly sat up in the rather uncomfortable white bed of her room in the Castle That Never Was, her entire head throbbing. The back of her neck was covered in sweat, and both hands went to either temple as she willed her headache to fade away.

What in Kingdom Hearts was that? The city, the light, the monsters, the Keyblade... the boy.

It didn't make any sense, and was disturbing her precious hours of sleep. Kairi groaned as she laid back down. She just wanted to sleep the stupid migraine away. It hadn't been there when she fell asleep, had it? Not that she could remember.

Where did the dream come from, anyway? She'd never seen any of that before. Even the monsters... they were different than Heartless. So, what were they? Did she just imagine it all up?

* * *

**A/N The characters, settings, and all that jazz belong to Disney and Square Enix. Poptarts belong to Kellogg's. I am affiliated with none of these. All that is mine would be the plot.  
For the record, I do not believe that Roxas and Ventus are the same person.**

**Thought 4: What if Naminé could have been used as one of the thirteen?**

**Thought 5: What if Kairi and Ienzo knew each other?**

**Spartan- I have to approve a guest review before it shows up. I didn't figure that out for a while either. Anyway! I'm not sure I understand your question from the first review. Could you please rephrase? Thank you for reading/reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_~Day 36~_

The pages of the book collided with an _umpth_ that resounded around the small white room. Kairi pushed the book away from her, sliding it along the bed and making it topple off the edge to join the small pile of others that she'd been exploring for the past week. It thumped indignantly at being treated so poorly when making contact with its brothers.

While it wasn't nearly as bad as when she'd first joined Organization XIII, the feeling that something was missing persisted. The only conclusion she had been able to come to was that it was her heart. That's what the rest of the Nobodies said it was, anyway. So what was a heart? That's what she had been trying to figure out, but everything she had read so far did little to answer. There wasn't really anyone in the castle she cared to discuss the subject with, and on the few times she had tried, they didn't answer very well anyway. As far as she could tell, a heart was undefinable except by the fact that she wanted one. And so did everyone else. Perhaps once gaining one she could realize why exactly it was so important.

Everyone else would be waking soon, she knew, which meant she should probably return the books to the library - she hadn't told anyone she had taken them, and since she stumbled upon the library by accident, it could have been forbidden to her for all she knew - and go to the Grey Area to receive her mission. Another day of getting beaten by Heartless because her partner - usually Xigbar, though she was paired with Xaldin once - thought it would be a good idea to split up.

With an annoyed groan, Kairi slid off of her bed and halfheartedly walked over to the wall opposite her bed. Knocking on it twice, it slid to the side, revealing the closet holding several identical black coats. She pulled one off the rack, then kicked a pair of boots out of the closet to accompany. As soon as Kairi stepped away, the wall slid back into place, giving off the impression it was stationary. The fake wall was one of two of the hidden features she'd found in the room, the other being that the window turned into a mirror upon command. Either Organization XIII really liked things to look uniform, or someone had far too much time on their hands. She had discovered both the closet and the mirror by accident; it made her wonder what other hidden things were inside the room. Only time (and no doubt a lot of clumsiness) would show them to her.

Coat and boots on, Kairi sat back down on the bed and quickly reached under her pillow to collect her potions and munny. According to Luxord, it was the only place she could be sure the Dusks wouldn't be able to take her stuff from while she was sleeping. While it had never happened before to her, she did not doubt that the strange lesser Nobodies would do such a thing.

Having already stocked up on potions, bringing any munny would simply be a waste. The only other thing she kept under the pillow, the only other thing she really cared about the Dusks taking, was a necklace that she'd been wearing when she first came to the castle. It was a simple thing, just a silver bead on a chain, but it was still important to her. A connection to a past life. A reminder that she was looking towards a real goal, and humanhood wasn't just some fantasy she was never to experience. It was a reminder that she wasn't going to be under the command of Organization XIII to be beaten by Heartless every day for the rest of her life.

As she pocketed three potions, she couldn't help but wince at the reason why she had to carry the things. The pain of all the hits she'd taken just over the past week was suddenly recreated in her mind, especially that of the first injury she'd received from the Neoshadow. Thankfully, she hadn't encountered another since then, but it had forever left its mark on her. "Mirror." Kairi stood back up and faced the window as it shifted, soon throwing an image of herself straight back at her. Her hair was standing up like Roxas's did, but for the moment she ignored it as she turned her body around. She still kept her eyes focused on the mirror. She reached around to the back of her shoulder and pulled the coat back.

She'd only noticed it the morning before, and had been in too much of a hurry to get a good look at it. A scar, running from just below the back of her left shoulder blade diagonally towards her spine, stopping shortly before reaching it. She could only assume it hadn't healed properly because it took so long before they could actually cure it. A shudder overcame her, and she quickly let the coat go so it could move back into place. It wasn't the prettiest mark of battle. At least it wasn't as bad as Xigbar's, though.

After combing through her hair with her fingers to let it settle, Kairi let the mirror change back into the window and grabbed the books that had been discarded at the end of her bed. She only had a few minutes before everyone else would be awake. Peeking outside her bedroom door, she found the hallway empty, save for a Dusk standing suspiciously by her door. When Kairi shut the door behind her, she gave the Dusk a firm look and said, "Stay out."

It didn't respond, so she could only hope it would obey. Kairi went to the library as quickly and quietly as possible, not running into another soul on the way, and after dropping off the borrowed books, she set off to the Grey Area. The only other people in the room were the Moogle and Xion, who were conducting business, and Saïx, who stood in his usual spot by the window. Kairi approached him, and he spoke as soon as she was close. "You will be paired with Demyx today. Several Pureblood Heartless have appeared in Twilight Town."

Demyx? That was new. Kairi mentally debated with herself if she should ask for a switch. Demyx, the lazy bum, would no doubt be of little help if the Purebloods attacked her_._ Saïx probably wouldn't accept that reason, though, saying she should be more than capable of taking care of herself.

"I have to go with _her_?" Demyx whined from behind Kairi. He must have shown just after her. "But she can't fight, so I'll have no one to dump- I mean, share! I'll have no one to share the work with!"

_Nice save,_ Kairi thought to herself sarcastically.

"Kairi can sense the Heartless." Saïx explained calmly. Kairi looked up at him in surprise. She hadn't told anyone about that. "She will show you where they all are far faster than you would find them on your own."

Demyx grumbled to himself, the only part that Kairi heard being a simple, "Fine." Demyx stared at her, irritation evident on his face as he silently asked her if she was ready.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," she said. Demyx mumbled a "Great" and opened the Corridor of Darkness before leading the way through. When they arrived in Twilight Town, the only world Kairi had gone to on missions so far, they were in the Station Plaza. It was still fairly early in the morning, but she could see smoke rising from some of the chimneys spread out across the town that had become her second home.

"So, where are they?" Demyx's voice was reluctant, and Kairi pat her pockets to make sure the potions were there. She had no doubt she would be needing them.

"The concourse." Kairi nodded towards the tunnel labeled _5_. "I'll be able to tell more once we get in there."

Demyx let Kairi lead him to the concourse and down to the lowest level. No Heartless had appeared when they made it to the underground passage. Kairi walked to the center of the room, spray from the water passage coming up and hitting her face as she scanned for the monsters. "They're in this room."

"I don't see any-" Demyx abruptly stopped as several Neoshadows formed up around them. Kairi slapped a gloved hand over her mouth to avoid screaming at the creatures of darkness, and she backed into Demyx as he swore at the monsters. "Why did they have to send me?! Why did they have to send me?!"

A number of the Neoshadows leaped for them, but a dome of water formed around the pair and knocked them away. Kairi quickly turned to Demyx and saw his Sitar forming in his hand as the dome faded away into several water clones. He could actually fight?

"Dance, water, dance!" he yelled. She lost all hope again. Kairi did her best to stay close to Demyx as the clones took on the Neoshadows, but for every Heartless slain two clones went with it. In just a few short minutes most of the clones were gone, and the Neoshadows were starting to target Demyx and Kairi again. Kairi ducked out of a swipe from one of the monsters, but the claws still came far too close to her face. She scrambled away from it as it continued to make attacks at her, all of its strikes narrowly missing.

A column of water sprung from the ground and sent the creature back to oblivion. When the column faded Kairi saw she was on the other side of the room from Demyx. Several Neoshadows sprung up between them, and Demyx made more columns rise to strike them. Only about half of them were actually hit. The rest split, most going for Demyx, the only one with defense, but one still chasing after Kairi.

Demyx summoned more water clones, but more Neoshadows appeared to fight them off. Kairi stepped back from the approaching Neoshadow, unaware that she was backing into the waterway until she'd fallen into it. The Neoshadow jumped for her, but Kairi rolled to the side and it collided with the wall instead. As it recovered and tromped through the water after her, she scrambled to her feet and ran the other way... which only led to a wall. Walls on two sides, a Neoshadow on each of her other sides. She was trapped.

A pained yell came from where Demyx was, and she looked to see all his water clones were gone and he was barely able to hold the Neoshadows away from him. Blood came from the arm supporting his Sitar, and it was sagging, making it harder for him to control the water. Columns of water shot up around him and scattered the Neoshadows, giving him a brief chance to try and cure it. Kairi never got to see if it worked, though, because one of the Heartless made a strike for her chest. She crouched and fell into the fetal position. It's claws narrowly scraped her cheek, and she could feel the blood oozing out of the burning cut and down her face.

"Demyx, help!" she yelled as she raised her arms to block a downward strike from the nearest Neoshadow. It caught in her left arm, earning another scream from her, and she stuck out her foot to kick the beast away. It slid back a few inches, widening the gash in her arm from its sudden withdraw. Her blood joined the water beneath her, flowing down the way to never be seen again. Kairi's senses were fading in and out, but the knot in her stomach, and the very clear sound of screaming breaking the ringing in her ears, let her know that it was almost over for both her and her partner.

Movement was all that her eyes could pick up, and with a scream Kairi raised her already injured arms to block the inevitable blow to her chest that would end her. The moving shadows ceased as light filled her vision, and the fingers of her right hand were gripping something metallic as a warmth spread up her arm, then all across her body until she felt like she was radiating with it. Kairi opened her eyes and saw the two Neoshadows that had been attacking her had disappeared, and a Keyblade was resting in her hand, identical to the one that had been in her dream the week before.

_Rainfell..._

Clutching her still bleeding left arm to her stomach, Kairi used the Keyblade to lift herself off the ground. All her dizziness had faded, despite the fact that her arm was still bleeding, and she could now see Demyx still struggling against the Neoshadows, who paid her no mind. Had they not seen the flash when she summoned the Keyblade?

How, again, did she summon a Keyblade?

The answer to that would have to wait. Kairi ran to the monsters attacking her ally, and slashed at them with a strength she most definitely _did not_ have before. Two of the beasts were thrown into a wall, stunned. The Neoshadows and Demyx all turned to Kairi at this point. Demyx didn't waste a second before swinging his Sitar around and knocking a Neoshadow in Kairi's direction. She held up her Keyblade and impaled it as it flew by. It dissipated into darkness on either side of her. Two more Neoshadows swung at them, but Demyx summoned columns of water. Though fairly weak, the columns managed to knock them back into the two that Kairi had thrown on the wall. The two that Kairi had hit faded away, and the last two were soon to follow as Kairi and Demyx bore down on them with their weapons.

Kairi could feel the presence of the darkness leave. All the Heartless were gone. A pained grin came to her face as Rainfell faded back into her being, and she turned excitedly to Demyx. Her grin soon faded at the crazed look he was giving her.

"I am _never_ going on a mission with you again!" his raspy voice came between struggled gasps for breath. His green eyes were wide in terror. "This is far too strenuous."

As the adrenaline in her began to fade away, Kairi began to realize exactly what he meant. Her strength was fading, and she was becoming too aware of both the gash on her arm and all of her partner's injuries as well. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out two of her potions, tossing one to Demyx and keeping the other for herself.

As soon as the last drop was down her throat, and the gash on Kairi's arm had sealed over so that only the rip in her coat was evidence it had ever been there, Kairi dropped the bottle and grinned up at Demyx, bouncing onto the balls of her feet in excitement. "I have a Keyblade! I can summon a real Keyblade!"

"I saw. Thank Kingdom Hearts," Demyx sighed with relief as he pocketed his empty potion bottle and kicked Kairi's into the water. "Let's RTC. I want this day to be over..."

* * *

"The castle's really different without you." Xion admitted to Roxas's sleeping form. She was sitting beside his bed, leaning her back against it with her hands on her knees, holding a half-eaten sea salt ice-cream. "No one else is really as... interesting as you are. They don't like to talk like you do. They make it sound like a joke, but I can tell they're _trying _to be degrading."

Of course, he didn't respond to this. She'd gotten used to it. It'd been ten days since he'd fallen asleep, and for nine of those days, she had come in and sat with him for a few minutes after and sometimes even before missions. Even if he wasn't awake, he was still better company than most of the other members.

"I've been going on exclusively solo missions. Saïx says we're stretched thin on members since losing the group at Castle Oblivion, and I feel like everyone's putting double the pressure on me because I'm the only one with a Keyblade right now." Xion did her best to turn around and look up at him from where she sat. The dark-haired girl couldn't help but frown as she looked at him. "You're gonna help me out soon, right? You're gonna wake up..."

Of course he would wake up. He _had_ to wake up. Xion bit her lip as she stood, and her lips stayed downturned as she looked at Roxas. His face was lacking of any sign that he was still close to their reality. No smiles, frowns, grimaces... it was like no living soul was actually in that body. She'd easily believe so if his chest wasn't moving up and down. She had to watch for it, but yes, however little it was, he was still breathing.

"You're going to be fine," she assured him. Or herself. Shaking her head at herself, Xion reached into her pocket and pulled out a thallassa shell. She added it to the ones she'd already set up by his pillow, then whispered a goodbye before turning and walking out of the room.

The bedrooms in the long hall were organized so that those whose title was an even number, such as Xion's, would be on one side, and the odd numbers would be on the other. The higher ranking ones were closest to the Grey Area, and the ranking degraded as the rooms got further away. Because of this, Roxas's and Kairi's were placed right next to each other, and Xion's across from theirs. When Xion stepped out of Roxas's room and quietly shut the door, Kairi was crossing in front of her to get to her own room. Xion watched Kairi as she walked, almost like she was about to start skipping. Kairi opened her bedroom door and grinned at Xion before locking herself inside. How... peculiar.

* * *

**Thought 6: There's absolutely no way everyone only had _one_ coat. If nothing else, it'd get shredded after even just a few weeks of fighting. Where the heck are the closets?!**

**Thought 7: No one has such fantastic hair as (some of) the Organization members do naturally. They had to have mirrors in their rooms. And for some of them, a lot of hair gel.**

**Thought 8: The only possible way for people to go so long fighting every day without getting any scars is, in my opinion, abuse of magic. These people need more scars.**

**Thought 9: Would more people like Kairi if she didn't have such a girly Keyblade?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I own nothing. Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_~Day 37~_

Early morning in The World That Never Was. It was Kairi's favorite time in the white fortress, for it was the only time she could truly enjoy the peace the large home of Nobodies offered. Even though it had taken her several hours to get over her excitement of the Keyblade enough to actually fall asleep, she'd still managed to wake up earlier than all of her cohorts. Except for perhaps Saïx. She wasn't sure he ever slept.

When she and Demyx had returned to the castle the day before, he'd dumped her with Xigbar, who had said, "Looks like all you needed was to protect someone," before he teleported to tell Xemnas of her discovery of the Keyblade. She had wondered for several minutes what he had meant by saying she needed to protect someone, but that thought was soon replaced by many others, mainly, "I can finally protect myself," "I'm actually of some use to the Organization," and "The dream was real."

It was this last thought that had ended her on this particular morning in the Grey Area with a box of crayons she had found in the castle's library, and a grey notebook Saïx had given her on her first day. No. XV was printed in bold, jerky letters on the front, and the Organization XIII symbol was just below it. He'd said to use it as a diary, or journal, or whatever, but she'd up to that morning neglected to have it do anything but collect dust.

Kairi lifted the blue crayon that she'd been using to accent the silvery-grey bangs of the boy who had been in her dream. Up to not even an hour before, she'd assumed she must have just imagined the boy up. But there was no way she could have simply imagined Rainfell, considering she could now make it appear in her hands at will. If her subconscious didn't come up with the Keyblade, what else about that dream was genuine?

The boy was the thing she remembered most clearly from the dream, hence the reason she drew him first. A crayon drawing wasn't much to go off of, but if she had been able to get this far, surely she would be able to find out more of who he was. Maybe he would end up being like Rainfell. See it in the dream, then see it for real. She'd never heard any of the Organization members mention any reason for any of them having foresight before, but that didn't mean it was impossible.

"What in the worlds is that supposed to be?"

A sound that can only be described as horror escaped Kairi's mouth and she nearly threw her notebook and crayons from the startle. Rainfell flashed into her hands, already built into her instincts, as she whipped around and raised the blade to Demyx's face. The Melodious Nocturne stumbled back, raising his arms in surrender. "Point that thing somewhere else!"

"Why does everyone keep trying to scare me?" Kairi groaned as Rainfell faded into light. She slumped down on the couch as Demyx moved around it to stand in front of her.

"Because twenty-four hours ago, you were the only one in the castle who couldn't retaliate. Seriously, though, what in Kingdom Hearts were you trying to draw? It looked like a zombie koala bear..."

Heat flared to Kairi's cheeks. How could he possibly think that?! Her drawing skills weren't _that_ bad! "It's none of your business, Demyx!"

"Fine, fine, draw what you want! I just thought you were a bit more innocent than that... zombie koalas..." He muttered the last two phrases to himself as he moved to the other set of couches, away from her, to play his Sitar.

The morning peace was officially broken. Kairi retrieved the notebook and crayons she had dropped when summoning Rainfell, then walked back out into the hall to put them in her room. She made sure to put them under her pillow- you could never be sure when the Dusks would strike, and the picture, however poor the quality may be, was not something she wanted to lose. After doing that, she exited her room and found Xion coming out of her own room across the hall.

"Morning." Xion nodded at Kairi in acknowledgement from under her hood. Kairi returned the greeting, and the two walked in silence to the Grey Area.

Saïx was standing in his usual place when they entered, and neither teen wasted a second in approaching him to learn of their missions. "Kairi, because you have shown that you too can wield the Keyblade, you will be accompanying Xion to Agrabah today to collect hearts. She will be showing you the basics of wielding until you are able to do so on your own."

"You can wield a Keyblade?" Xion's voice was evidence enough to her surprise: Kairi didn't need to see her face. In response, Kairi held out her arm in front of her. Her hand grew warm under her glove, and Rainfell flashed into existence.

"Depart as soon as you are ready." Saïx's word were dismissal, and also a silent command for them to leave and let him tend to other business. The girls shuffled in the direction of the Moogle as Saïx went to tell Demyx his mission for the day.

"It's good that we're getting more Keyblade wielders. It brings us that much closer to Kingdom Hearts," Xion said, having already gotten over the initial surprise of her new partner wielding the powerful weapon. She lifted a gloved hand to her chin as a new thought struck her. "They didn't have anyone teach me how to use the Keyblade. I could already fight with it just fine..."

Behind them, Demyx groaned at whatever Saïx had commanded him to do, but the girls were already far too used to it to care. "Well, you did get to watch Roxas use it for a few days. I've only ever seen a Keyblade once, and it wasn't in combat."

The reason seemed good enough to Xion, for the time. "Need anything from the Moogle?"

"Do you suggest anything?"

"Potions, since you don't know any magic."

"Check."

"Then, let's go." Xion held out her arm, and the Corridor of Darkness appeared a few feet away, the dark mist at the base of the portal stretching out and just reaching their feet. While Kairi hadn't necessarily gotten used to the darkness, her body had stopped becoming so defensive about it, so she didn't get nearly as sick anymore whenever she would walk inside of it. She followed Xion into the corridor, and the portal closed behind them.

"Have you ever been to Agrabah? I've only ever been to Twilight Town."

"I've... been a few times." Xion said, almost uncomfortably, it sounded to Kairi. Did she not like Agrabah? Kairi was tempted to ask what it would be like, but she knew within minutes they'd be there and she could see for herself.

It was fairly hard for Kairi to contain her excitement. She was going to collect hearts, to help get _Kingdom Hearts._ Not only had this weapon just given her a way to protect herself, but it also made her someone of _value_ to the Organization! And she could get them all one step closer to gaining hearts. And, to top it all off, she was going to see another world! In the two weeks she'd been a Nobody, she'd only known Twilight Town and The World That Never Was. The fact that there were so many more worlds out there just _waiting_ to be explored, and that she was finally taking the first step towards them...

She was so wrapped up in her giddiness, she didn't notice that she and Xion had stepped out of the dark corridor until she was hit by the white rays of the sun, the light coming at her from seemingly all sides. She raised a hand to shield her eyes, but the light still bounced off of the countless grains of sand spread across the ground. As her eyes adjusted, and Kairi could feel the dangerous light striking her face, she couldn't help but question the Organization's choice of wardrobe. Why did they have her wearing a black coat in the middle of the desert?

Though she knew what a desert was, it still took several seconds to get full comprehension of her surroundings. It seemed they had appeared in the middle of a market of some kind. Booths holding goods ranging from intricately woven blankets to painfully sharp weapons were spread out across the area. Behind them, a wooden gate was built into the side of the cream-white wall that surrounded the city, no doubt leading out to the true desert beyond.

"I... heard Saïx say yesterday that you can sense Heartless."

Kairi was pulled from her reverie and faced the hooded girl standing a few feet off. Xion seemed to be scanning the bazaar for signs of trouble. Kairi nodded as she said, "It's not perfect placement, and I can't do numbers, but I can feel their presence. There's some in the marketplace right now." A sudden thought struck Kairi, and her eyes widened before she quickly asked, "We're not going to split up, are we?"

"How would I show you how to fight if we did?" Xion's voice was honest, not sarcastic like Xigbar's usually was. Xion lead them them through the bazaar, between the many deserted booths and around unnaturally high piles of sand. "Xigbar said a sandstorm came through recently, which is probably why no one is out here. They're all holed up in the palace walls."

There was movement in the corner of her eye. Kairi turned to the clump of booths, and had just caught sight of the large, round Heartless before its fist collided with the booth in front of it. Flaming debris lunged for the girls. Kairi instinctively raised her arms to protect her face, and Rainfell flashed into her hand to catch the rest of the wood before it could grab her. Splinters got caught in her coat, but none managed to reach her skin. Kairi lowered the Keyblade. Fire was the only thing that registered in her vision. Kairi jumped back and out of the way as it scorched the ground she'd been standing on.

The Heartless was similar to the Large Body she'd encountered in Twilight Town, except it's apparel was more fitting for the culture. And it could breathe fire. That was a fairly large difference.

As soon as the fire attack ended, Xion charged the creature, Kingdom Key in hand. She struck for its spherical body, but the Keyblade bounced off in the same arc that she'd brought it down with. This caught her by surprise, and she was momentarily stunned, giving the Fat Bandit long enough to swing one of its long arms and knock her into one of the booths. It nearly collapsed from her body colliding with it.

Kairi didn't have time to see if Xion recovered, because the Heartless began shooting fireballs in her direction. Kairi raised Rainfell to absorb the first one, but the impact sent her skidding back into the wall of the city, a booth trapping her on either side. As the next fireball made way for her face, Kairi grabbed the top of one of the booths and swung herself up. The fireball left a black dent in the wall where her face had been moments before.

Now above the Fat Bandit, Kairi was able to take a moment to look over to where Xion was standing, encased in the green light of a cure spell. Then, the green light faded to a heated orange-red. Why...?

Kairi then realized that the spell hadn't changed colors, the booth she was standing on was on fire.

It was on fire.

Crap!

The tarp beneath her feet was already starting to sag. Kairi took one step and then leaped as it completely fell apart underneath her, becoming consumed by the flames. Her legs gave away as soon as she hit the ground, and she rolled several feet with the sand digging into her skin, stopping when she hit a booth and sending another pile of sand off of the tarp and onto her. By the time she had coughed all of that from her lungs, the Fat Bandit had turned to her and was fixing to shoot another fireball at her.

Then he was encased by ice.

Kairi dug her Keyblade into the ground and pushed herself to her feet. Xion was standing behind and to the side of the Fat Bandit, her Keyblade still pointed at it from when she had shot the blizzard magic at him. She ran forward and struck it in a diagonal slash. The ice shattered as it fell forward and skidded to Kairi, who promptly dug Rainfell into its head. The Heartless faded away into the darkness, leaving the girls alone in the battered bazaar.

Five seconds to catch her breath, and then a grin came on Kairi's face as she looked at the flaming booth. She'd been able to pull herself onto it in hardly a second! There was _no way_ she could have done that two days before. This Keyblade was getting better and better with each passing minute. And to think she'd once called it ridiculous.

"That's the first of the large Heartless I've seen in this world. I usually only see the small ones," Xion admitted as she cast a cure spell around Kairi to heal the few burns she'd gotten. When Kairi turned her attention back to Xion, she saw the girl was still in a battle stance, expecting more Heartless to show at any moment.

"How can you stand like that?" Kairi tried to mimic Xion's low posture, but her spine wasn't in favor of leaning in such a way. When the pain became too bothersome, she straightened again into her normal posture, except her Keyblade was in a ready position now.

"This is how I've always done it... different things for different people, I guess. Anymore Heartless around?"

"Yeah, there's still plen-" Kairi cut herself off with a yelp as Xion shoved her to the side, quickly stepping to where Kairi had been and parrying a strike from a sword. As Kairi got to her feet, she saw that several thin, orange-clad Heartless had appeared, each wielding two crescent-shaped blades. Bandits. And, standing authoritatively behind them, another Fat Bandit. Seven against two. _Time to see what this Keyblade of mine can really do._

* * *

_Hundreds of books, all coming in dozens of colors. Warm, pure light drifted in through the library's windows. A well-lived woman sat at a desk, her hand smoothly guiding a quill pen along a sheet of paper. A young, auburn-haired girl was a few feet away, her indigo eyes scanning the titles of the books with comprehension far beyond that of most four year-olds in the city._

_"Have you chosen a book yet, Kairi?" The grey-haired woman asked, turning back to the girl. She shook her head._

_"Can I go look upstairs, Grandma?" The young girl tried to hide the pleading in her voice so her grandmother didn't think she was whining to get her way. The upper level of the library was generally off limits to her, as her grandmother couldn't easily travel up the stairs and the balcony could be a fairly dangerous place to a child who might wander too close to the edge. This is why it surprised Kairi when her grandmother nodded, giving the smile that could be described by all in the world as home. Not a soul in the castle or town below didn't love Kairi's Grandmother, and Kairi's love for the woman could rival anyone else's._

_After over-thanking the woman, Kairi turned and ran up the staircase to the upper level. Most of the titles were skipped very quickly, due to the long, boring, scientific words most of them held. The castle library wasn't a place to entertain children, which is why most of Kairi's friends were confused as to why she loved to visit the place with her grandmother so much._

_Kairi's eyes finally fell on a title, _The True World of Light. _It seemed a good one to try. Unfortunately, it was on a shelf high enough that she had to stand on her toes just to reach the base of the spine. After a few tugs, she managed to pull the book off of the shelf and catch it in her small arms. She flipped the cover open, and was pleased by the black and white picture that greeted her on the first page. A warrior, standing in armor, holding a Key-shaped blade above his head in triumph. An interesting story indeed. She closed the book, and was about to bring it back to her grandmother when she noticed a boy standing at the desk a few feet away, watching her. Blue-silver hair hung over one of his aqua eyes, and his lab coat identified him as one of the castle's residents. He was a few years older than her, which probably would have scared most other girls her age away, but Kairi instead smiled and approached him.__  
_

_"Hi! My name is Kairi." He didn't respond. "What's yours?" He only blinked. Clearly, he'd need a little more prompt. "You're the boy who goes into town with Lord Ansem, aren't you? I've seen you two getting ice cream together! What's your favorite flavor?"_

_He still failed to respond, and actually turned to go away. Most people of any age would have assumed the boy didn't like them, but Kairi could only think that the boy looked far too sad. "It must get lonely being the only kid in the castle... hey, do you want to read with me and my Grandma?" She held up the book. The boy turned around. Did he like books? That would explain why he was in the library all alone. "__She brings me here allot so she can read to me. __She's a really great story-teller. So, do you want to stay with us for a while?"_

_The boy nodded, putting a grin on Kairi's face. She ran forward and grabbed his hand. His eyes widened slightly, but he otherwise showed no response to the contact. Struggling to hold the heavy book in her other arm, Kairi moved as quickly as she could to and down the stairs, narrowly avoiding tripping several times._

_"Who is this, Kairi?" Her grandmother asked as she took the book, smiling warmly at him. The boy didn't react._

_"He hasn't told me his name, but he wants to hear the story! Am I allowed to hear this one?"_

_Her grandmother had said before that some of the books in the library were too "mature" for her, whatever that meant. Luckily, though, her grandmother nodded to Kairi's question, then opened the book to begin reading. Kairi sat down on the floor a few feet away, then motioned for the quiet boy to join her. He walked on silent feet to stand beside Kairi. Kairi's grandmother waited a few seconds to see if he would sit, but seeing that he wouldn't, she began the tale. "Ages ago, back when all of the worlds were one, light existed throughout the entire land..."_

_At some point between pages three and seven, the boy did end up sitting beside Kairi, and the two children listened intently to the tale of the old world, and the story of a Keyblade Wielder, one character to represent many real people, that fought in the great Keyblade War. They were just getting to when the first signs of darkness in the warrior's heart appeared when the door to the library was thrust open, and a man with greasy, straight blonde hair and exotic, yet creepy, eyes walked in, his lab coat being tossed with each hasty step._

_"Ienzo! I have been looking all over this castle for you! I thought I told you to stay in the labs until the experiment on... until the experiment was done?" The man, now noticing who "Ienzo" was with, looked down angrily at the boy. He silently stood, and walked to the man's side. "I'm sorry if he's been troubling you."_

_"He's been a joy to have, Even." Kairi's grandmother refuted. Kairi nodded vigorously to affirm this. She didn't want Ienzo in any more trouble than he may have already been in._

_The man, Even, sighed, then turned to go back into the main area of the castle. "I wish for you both to have a good day, ladies."_

_"You too, sir."_

_As the man and boy left, Kairi jumped to her feet and hastily waved to her new friend. "I'll see you later, Ienzo! I won't finish the story without you! I promise!"_

The internal clock said it was still time for her to be asleep, but as the dream faded away, Kairi sat up in her bed, her thumb and index finger rubbing her eyes. The boy from her earlier dream had been named Ienzo? And it was definitely a younger her in _this _dream with him, so it couldn't be some form of foresight... were these memories? She had simply assumed that one would lose their memories as part of becoming a Nobody. Strange that they would suddenly be coming back to her. Why would they be? And why the ones about this Ienzo?

Perhaps it was nothing. It didn't really matter all that much, at least not yet. But still, she reached under her pillow and pulled out the notebook Saïx had given her. She flipped to the first page, to the picture of the boy, and under the picture- which did not look _anything_ like a zombie koala bear!- wrote _Ienzo._

* * *

**Thought 10: What if Naminé got her drawing skills (or lack thereof, in some's opinions) from Kairi?**

**Thought 11: How did they not melt in Agrabah wearing those ridiculous coats?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N The panels don't work ****very well ****in writing, so I had to make some adjustments. You don't buy spells, you learn them. You can buy keychains, rings, other jewelry that can increase either the power or lessen the casting difficulty of a certain spell. Also, for reasons that you will see much, _much_ later, I do Keyblades a little differently too.**

**Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_~Day 50~_

It was one of those rare mornings when Kairi wasn't among the first into the Grey Area. When she entered, Saïx was in his usual place by the window, Xigbar was talking with the odd little Moogle, Xaldin was practicing patience as he listened Demyx play his obnoxious songs on the Sitar, and Luxord was trying to teach two Dusks how to play cards. As you can imagine, it wasn't going well. For pretty much everyone in the room, this would be considered a relatively normal day. Which, of course, meant something had to mess it up.

Kairi stood a few feet from Xigbar and the Moogle, recounting her money to know how many potions she'd be able to purchase as soon as Xigbar finished. If the price hadn't changed since last she'd stocked up nearly a week ago, she'd be able to get twenty-one. Now the question was, would she be able to hide that many of them from the Dusks...?

"Heh, what's got you in such a a mood today, Poppet?" She hadn't even realized Xigbar had finished with the Moogle. When she looked up from the munny in her hand, he was standing by the entrance next to Xion. No. XIV was looking up at him, but it was impossible to get a read on what she was thinking thanks to her hood. Kairi thought she would have to try wearing hers like that some time.

"Do we have any idea when Roxas will wake up?" Xion finally asked. "He's been asleep for so long..."

"After twenty-three days of him being asleep, we're not inclined to believe he's going to wake up." Saïx approached the two, continuing before Xion could react. "Today you're going to be doing heart collection in Twilight Town. Prepare yourself and leave immediately." Then he turned to Kairi. "You will be with Demyx today. He's going to teach you the basics of magic."

"_What?!_" Demyx's Sitar made a wretched sound from the slip of his hand he made when he jumped to his feet. "You've got to be kidding!"

"You may teach her in whatever world you wish." Saïx then went on to tell everyone else their missions. Before Kairi could assure Demyx that he wouldn't almost get killed this time, he had speed-walked over, grabbed her wrist, and was dragging her into the dim hallway leading from the Grey Area.

"Don't I get to buy from the Moogle first?"

"You won't need anything. Saïx said I can choose what world I want, and there is _no way_ I'm going with you where there's Heartless." When they'd reached the area of the hall that had the bedrooms, they found the Dusk that was always by Kairi's door when she woke up. For some unknown reason, it had stayed there after she had left. "You! Go get a friend and meet us in the Hall of Empty Melodies."

The Dusk slithered away, and Demyx was again dragging Kairi away. She was practically running to keep up with his much longer legs. There was no mistaking the sweat forming on his neck, or the anxiety in his eyes. Was working with her really that bad? "You know, I can actually use the Keyblade now. If we did get attacked by Heartless, I could help fight!" She knew, though, that help wasn't what he wanted. He just didn't want to face Heartless at all.

Demyx didn't speak to her until they were inside the hall commonly used as training grounds, and the two Dusks had shown. "It's really easy. Just point your weapon at them, channel your magical energy into it, and say the spell." He demonstrated by pointing his Sitar at one of the Dusks and saying "Freeze." Ice shot out from the head of the Sitar, and in hardly a second the Dusk was frozen, much like the Fat Bandit had been the day before. The other Dusk slithered over to its brother, and with a swing of its legs, the ice shattered.

"Are all spells so easy? Just 'freeze?'" Kairi asked as she summoned Rainfell.

"Most battle ones are. Get good enough with them and you shouldn't even have to say it. Vexen told me that saying it out loud was more of a guide, anyway."

Kairi pointed her Keyblade at the Dusk, which simply sat in place, waiting for the spell to come upon it. Even though it was expecting the attack, though, the idea didn't settle well with Kairi. She lowered Rainfell as she turned back to Demyx. "What if I hurt it?" The look on Demyx's face... "I mean, it's a Nobody like us! Wouldn't it be wrong to hurt one of our kind?"

"You're not going to hurt it." Demyx rolled his eyes as he grabbed Kairi's arm and lifted it toward the Dusk again. She looked at him doubtfully, then looked back to the Dusk and muttered the spell as he continued, "It's your first time using magic, anyway. It's not like you would have enough power to-"

He was silenced as ice shot from the tip of her Keyblade in sickles that went _right through_ the Dusk. The shell faded into nothingness, leaving the number of souls in the room at three.

"I... killed it!" Kairi cried as the other, live Dusk slithered away. "I killed another Nobody!"

"Ok, that's enough training today, you can figure out the rest for yourself!" And with that, Demyx teleported away, leaving Kairi alone in the Hall of Empty Melodies.

"You said I wouldn't hurt it!" She yelled at the wisps of darkness that were remnant of Demyx's teleport. The wisps vanished, and Kairi clenched her teeth in anger. Had he not even considered that with his spell already weakening it, hers might actually do damage to the poor thing?

At least if it was the one that always stood at her door, she wouldn't have to be paranoid about it sneaking into her room anymore. Kairi sighed and dismissed Rainfell. The day's mission hadn't even lasted ten minutes. Now what?

_An ice spell probably isn't enough to compare to all the magic everyone else knows. What other kinds of spells are there?_

She had a whole day to find out. Kairi quickly ran through the castle and back to her room, where she retrieved her No. XV notebook and a purple crayon before running to the castle's library. It no doubt had plenty of information on magic. Kairi dropped her notebook on the desk, then ran between the various shelves for nearly ten minutes before she had gotten a nice stack of books that, judging from the titles, in some way pertained to magic. She sat down at the white desk and turned her notebook to the second page, then grabbed the book at the top of the stack, _The__ Beginners Guide to Magic._ What better place to start than at the beginning?

Six hours later, there was no doubt in Kairi's mind that she was a book nut. When she took the many hours during her time with Organization XIII that had been dedicated to reading and added that to the dream she'd had two weeks before where she was in a library, and there was no way to deny it. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. She'd only glanced through all of the books she'd retrieved, but she'd still accumulated a four-page long list of spells she wanted to learn. Hopefully, that would put her on par with the rest of Organization XIII. Who knew how many spells they all knew?

After putting all the books she had gathered back in their proper places, Kairi pocketed the crayon and hugged the notebook to her chest. She wandered the halls for a few minutes until she came upon two Dusks meaninglessly lingering in one of the many corridors of the castle. "Hey, would you two mind grabbing some friends and-"

The Dusks slithered away. Word of her earlier attempt at magic must have spread, which meant no one would be interested in helping her train. She was on her own.

_It can wait. Give it a few days and they'll all forget, s_he assured herself. For the time, she figured she could go back to her room and at least try and memorize some of the spells. While she could remember all of the basic battle spells such as freeze, firaga, and cure, many of the more complicated, more _fun_ ones were actually several words and sometimes even sentences long. But, she didn't intend on staying so far behind her coworkers for long. She wanted to make it a _want_ instead of a _chore_ to be on missions with her.

With this goal in mind, Kairi wandered back through the open halls until she reached her room. Sure enough, the Dusk wasn't by her door. Meaning she'd either killed it, or finally scared it away. Honestly, she didn't know which she should be hoping for. As she reached her hand out to open the door, she was hit with something... unexpected. Her eyes drifted to the door next to her own. No. XIII's room.

_"We're not inclined to believe he's going to wake up." _Saïx's words drifted back to her, tugging the corners of her lips down. Was he really gone, then? Their last Keyblade wielder, lost to sleep? The negativity she felt at the thought surprised her, considering she had only ever seen him once and hadn't even talked with him. Then again, she was the girl who felt bad about hurting a Dusk.

Before she knew what she was doing, Kairi was opening Roxas's door instead of her own. She peeked inside of the room, identical to her own. Including the fact that no on was in the bed. They had already removed his body.

It was worse than killing a Dusk. A dread she couldn't explain came upon her, and Kairi quickly shut the door, separating herself from the empty room. Did he die on his own, or did Saïx kill him because he thought he wasn't going to wake?

Of all things to break her from her momentary pain, it was laughter. Coming from the Grey Area and getting closer. Not wanting to be caught standing outside of Roxas's room (who knew what these people would think?) Kairi quickly slid back to her room and threw the door open. Before she could slam it shut behind her, it registered that it was two voices laughing, and one of them was _female._

Aside from her, there was only one female in the Organization, and this was the last day she would have expected to hear Xion laughing. Even if she didn't know of Roxas's passing yet, she had already been very upset that morning, and Kairi couldn't imagine anything that would make Xion get over it so quickly.

Curiosity won out, and she leaned back outside... only to fall on her rear in the hallway at the sight of Roxas and Xion walking in her direction with grins that put the Cheshire Cat to shame. Her fall ceased their laughter, which was only a few feet away by that point.

"Hey, Kairi!" Roxas's chipper voice reached her ears as she pulled herself to her feet. He was in an awful good mood for someone who had just been dead.

At least it was one less death for the day. All of that panic and he'd simply waken up and left his room. "Hey, Roxas, Xion." When she turned to the recently arrived pair, Roxas's eyes widened, and he dumbly pointed at Kairi, then Xion, then Kairi again. Back and forth, back and forth. "What is it...?"

"You two look exactly alike!"

"Do we?" Xion glanced between the two of them, though Kairi was only looking at Xion's face. What little she could see under the hood, that is. Apparently Roxas had seen her without it before, but Kairi wasn't even able to tell what Xion's hair color was.

"Your voices are alike, too!"

"Really?" both girls asked, and, sure enough, they matched almost perfectly. All three of them started laughing at that. Later, Kairi would realize it was her first laugh as a Nobody.**  
**

"I wonder how often that happens with Nobodies."

"Who can know?" Kairi asked rhetorically, though Roxas seemed to actually be considering who. "When did you wake up, Roxas?"

"A couple hours ago. I went into the Grey Area, but no one was there."

"I think Demyx and I were the only ones done with our missions at that point, and I was in another part of the castle. Well, I've got stuff to do," Kairi raised her notebook at this, "so I'll see you both later."

While Xion suggested she and Roxas spar in the Hall of Empty Melodies so she could show him how far she'd come since he'd fallen asleep, Kairi slipped back inside of her room, locking the door. The last thing she needed was for anyone to walk in on her practicing magic that could go anywhere and make anything happen.

As she sat crossed-legged on her bed, it didn't pass her that there was an undeniable smile-on-the-verge-of-grin planted on her face. Was it because Roxas had waken up? She hadn't even properly met him. _It's just because he's alive. Why would you care if he's sleeping?_

* * *

_~Day 51~_

His original startle hadn't been that Xion and Kairi looked alike, though that had become a part of it after he had actually seen Kairi's face. The real startle was when he suddenly realized Kairi- the back of her head, at least, as well as her voice- was the same as the girl in the images that had been running through his head in his sleep and on the clocktower.

It was completely unexplainable to him, and, unlike Kairi, Roxas wasn't one to try and fill in the blanks on his own, and instead let the question lie in limbo. After a while, the questions would fade from his mind, but when they returned they'd bring twice the anger they had before. This was the mind of the Nobody of the Keyblade Master.

By the next day, Roxas had indeed pushed the thought from his mind, and was more focused on two very important things: the first being that he was going back on a mission even though his head still felt so fogged up and heavy he almost thought he was still asleep, and the second was that Axel hadn't returned from Castle Oblivion yet. He had asked Xion about it, but she'd just gotten really quiet and shrugged.

He could remember that before he went into a coma that someone had been wiped out at Castle Oblivion, and it seemed that no one had returned to the castle, which only made him worry more. What in Kingdom Hearts happened there? This question was playing over and over again in his mind as he walked into the Grey Area and immediately approached Saïx.

"You're awake."

_Good, I was beginning to_ _doubt,_ he thought in jest, then asked,"Did you ever find out what happened at Castle Oblivion?"

"We're looking into what befell them."

As if the fog in his head hadn't been enough already! Thoughts became unarrangable and he was hardly able to get out, "'Them'!? How many? You still don't know?" That's what he remembered it being like, anyway. For Saïx, it was slightly less intelligible.

"What I know is that I don't owe you any explanations. Now get to work. You'll be on your own for a while. Wherever our other members are, they're certainly not here to help. You're going back to Agrabah today to defeat seven Fire Plants."

Saïx held out a paper with the information of the Heartless, and Roxas angrily snatched it from him before turning on heel and storming to an empty couch to sulk. It seemed to be what he did best at the time. There was a strange sensation inside of him that he couldn't explain. Axel was really gone. Just, gone. He felt... choked up? That was the best he could explain it.

The fog seemed refusing to clear, but his large wave of anger soon passed:as much as he hated the fact, he needed to, for the moment at least, move on to his mission. Sighing, he readjusted himself to a more comfortable position and read over the Fire Plant data. He couldn't help but notice that his eyes were stinging the entire time. That was strange. When he finished reading, he decided the easiest course of action seemed to just use a bunch of different forms of ice magic so he didn't have to get too close. Unfortunately, his ice wasn't all that great yet...

It was time to see just what was so grand about this Moogle Shop. Sure, he'd introduced himself to the Moogle before (the Moogle failed to return the favor,) but he'd hardly paid attention to the goods in the shop and seen what exactly synthesizing did. But, if it could help with these Fire Plants, then why not?

Now that he wasn't driven by what he hadn't been able to identify as a flood of emotions, Roxas could actually see that it wasn't just him, Saïx, and the ominous Moogle in the room. Xigbar was staring out the window, being his usual creepy self; Demyx and Kairi were at the other set of couches, Demyx playing his Sitar in an unusually tamed manner, and Kairi studying a mission overview like the one Roxas held; and lastly, Xion stood by the Moogle, giving it a look as if it was trying to convince her that it secretly had a third eye.

"Morning, Roxas." Xion greeted him when he walked over to them. Her arms were still crossed at the Moogle, and she didn't take her attention off of it for more than was necessary for the two words.

"I heard you collapsed, kupo." The Moogle said to Roxas. "Gotta pace yourself, kupo. Who else am I going to swindl- talk to, kupo?" When the creature stumbled, Xion's eyes doubled in size, and she looked at it as if daring it to continue. "Have a look at my wares, kupo!"

"I've got to defeat Fire Plants, so, do you have anything that could strengthen my ice magic?"

"I could synthesize a keychain for your Keyblade that could give you great ice power, kupo. It's worth its price of five thousand munny plus all the synthesis materials, kupo!" Xion gave the Moogle another strange look, but it seemed not to notice. Its full focus was on its new victi- client!

While the Moogle worked on making the keychain, Roxas asked Xion what her mission was. "I have heart collection in Twilight Town. It shouldn't be too hard." Xion was frowning the whole time she said this, and Roxas assumed it still had to do with the Moogle, whatever that had been about, but then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a panacea. Holding it out to him, she said, "Don't hurt yourself out there. You still look like a zombie."

Laughing with slight mirth, Roxas accepted the panacea. "Thanks, Xion. Sure you don't need it?"

"I've still got a couple left."

Roxas's keychain finished about then, and he quickly attached it to the Kingdom Key. He was about to head out, but was stopped by Kairi.

"Saïx says one of you are in charge of picking me up after my mission, since I can't open the Corridors of Darkness..." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly at this, clearly embarrassed about it. "It's in Twilight Town."

"I'll already be there, so I can do it," Xion offered. "What's your mission?"

"Deserters. They don't sound _too _bad."

Xion and Roxas exchanged looks, then looked back to Kairi in pity. Poor girl.

* * *

Kairi could sense the presence of the Heartless as soon as she stepped out of the Corridor of Darkness. She had appeared in the sandlot, and somehow the Struggle players practicing there didn't notice her. Not that she was complaining. She quickly followed the twisted feel of the darkness, soon arriving in the Tram Common, and just after that, the Tram yard.

The Heartless were similar to Soldiers in body, but their uniform was green instead of blue. She jumped down into the yard with them, summoning Rainfell, but it seemed as if they couldn't care less for her. She waited for nearly a minute, but none of the eight bothered to even come close to her. Weird.

A hand came to her hip and her weight adjusted to one leg as she watched the Deserters run around like madmen- er, madheartless- through the Tram yard, paying her no mind. She had no intentions of returning the favor, though. Kairi leveled her Keyblade at a Deserter, and called, "Freeze!" Sickles shot from her Keyblade at the Deserters, but managed to miss every one, instead impaling themselves in the wall on the opposite side of the Tram yard.

Kairi's face scrunched up at the Deserters. Her magic wasn't quick enough to catch up with them, so that was out of the question. Not that her melee attacks and running speed were any better. She strolled out to the center of the Tram yard, swinging at any that came by, but the darned things were too fast to get much more than a graze on their armor! By the time she reached the center, she was starting to feel dizzy from all of them making circles around her. A few were stationary, but for hardly a second before running again.

It wasn't a long expanse of time, but their stopping was probably her only chance to attack. Her hand grew warm from the power she had flowing into it, and she already had her Keyblade raised. As soon as she saw a Deserter stop, she leveled her Keyblade and shot ice at it. The Deserter moved just before impact. Kairi grit her teeth.

Three attempts later, and she was past frustrated. She ended up charging the Deserter she had been aiming for, which was much faster than her. Kairi angled herself to the cut the Deserter off as soon as it turned back from the wall. While she failed in a direct cut, she did manage to at least trip it. Before it could right itself, Kairi trapped it with blizzard and brought her Keyblade down onto it. As the ice shattered, the Heartless faded back into the darkness.

Huffing to catch her breath, Kairi leaned against the nearby wall for momentary support. Might as well catch her breath. The Deserters weren't necessarily dangerous, but definitely annoying. Perhaps a bit worse than she had first assumed, but still not _too _bad.

The first two kicks landed on her back, knocking her into another to her stomach and a fourth to her face. A fifth kick brought her to her knees, and a sixth to her side had her on the ground in time for the seventh to the back of her head. It was so fast she didn't even manage to cry out from the pain until the fifth. The world had darkened, and what little of the Tram yard she could see was blotted with red dots. She blindly swung to hoard off any more attacks, but none came. Realizing they weren't attacking her anymore, she cast a fairly weak cure spell- she had only learned it the night before- to fix any bleeding she may have had. She was already so lightheaded, the last thing she needed was loss of blood to make her pass out. She tried to stand, but the gravity shifted and she collapsed again._  
_

It became official, then. Kairi _hated_ Deserters.

* * *

**Thought 12: If someone other than Aqua wielded Rainfell, would their magic be at least _almost_ as strong as hers?**

**Though 13: Would the Organization members find the Deserters as annoying to defeat as I did?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I own nothing but the plot.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

_~Day 71~_

"Hard workers, I salute you!" Demyx called to no one in particular from his familiar spot on the couch. Kairi rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the Moogle.

"This bracelet will really double the strength of my cure spells?"

"Of course, kupo!"

"Alright..." Kairi dug around in her pockets, pulling out munny as she found it until she had passed the right amount to the Moogle. She accepted the silver and green band and tied it around her wrist. No immediate effects were shown, but she would no doubt find out as soon as she went on a mission.

When she turned to go to Saïx to receive her orders, she nearly walked into a black mass, but her quick instincts (developed by Xigbar and Demyx scaring her one time too many) allowed her to put up a magical barrier that threw the mass away from her. Roxas let out a cry as he bounced off the transparent purple orb surrounding Kairi. He fell backwards onto and over the nearby table, straight to the feet of a now annoyed Demyx, though No. IX also seemed surprised at Kairi for a reason she could not place. The barrier faded as soon as Kairi realized what she had done, and she quickly ran to help Roxas stand. "So sorry, Roxas!"

"It's okay..." The sun-haired No. XIII rubbed his now bruised head as Kairi pulled him to his feet. "I was just going to ask if you've seen Xion today."

"Haven't, sorry." One hand went to Kairi's chin and the other to her elbow. "Actually, I haven't seen her in several days."

"Roxas, your mission is to defeat shadow globs in Twilight Town." Saïx must have decided they needed to get in the field before they could accidentally kill each other. "Kairi, you are to do the same thing in Agrabah. Roxas will bring you back to the castle when you are both done."

After handing them each a sheet of white paper with information on the shadow globs, Saïx continued listing the assignments to the others in the room, leaving the two teens to their thoughts. "Looks like this will give me a chance to test out some more of the magic I've been learning," Kairi mused.

"I really don't use that much magic. My Keyblade's always been stronger. Maybe I should ask the Moogle if he has anything to help me out..."

"I'd be careful with him. I'm still not convinced his stuff works." She pocketed the paper. "I'm going to go on out. See you afterwards?" Roxas nodded, and opened a Corridor of Darkness for her. "Don't forget."

When she arrived in the Bazaar, it was made evident that the city had been doing a much better job of picking itself back up after the sandstorm. Though not open, more of the shops were set up, the sand was not piled quite so high, and she could hear movement from within the buildings suggesting that people actually lived there again. Thankfully, no one was out and about yet, leaving the entire market to her alone. Well, her, and a bunch of shadow globs. From where she stood, she could only see two globs: one above one of the booths, and the other in the center of four equidistant windows that made a square. The first one she could jump to, but the second would no doubt require magic.

Kairi didn't have long before everyone woke up, so she quickly pulled herself on top of the line of stands and started running across them to the shadow glob, all the while keeping an eye out for Heartless. None had shown by the time she made it to the shadow glob, and a couple whacks of her Keyblade had it fading away. Perfect.

No Heartless appeared in the time it took her to run to a spot where she could fire her magic at the shadow glob, which only concerned her more. Were they planning to ambush her? She could definitely feel a presence of darkness, but she was not able to place it anywhere. Perhaps that was the effect of the shadow globs.

A journey through the city and to the palace gates left not a shadow glob in Agrabah- as far as Kairi could tell, anyway. Saïx had never specified just how many she needed to eliminate, so she could not safely assume she had gotten rid of the required amount. As the sun began to warm up the sand-city, and the people began to scramble to be the first to the market, Kairi found herself sitting on the upper level of an abandoned corner of the city, her feet dangling over the edge as she twirled Rainfell in her hand. Aside from the shadow globs, she had not run into a single Heartless. Was it the same with Roxas in Twilight Town?

"Where is he, anyway?" she mumbled to herself. Surely it could not take him that long to defeat a few blobs of darkness! Was he sulking about Castle Oblivion again?

The darkness was upon her before she could even realize what the shift in her gut meant. She barely raised her Keyblade in time to avoid the strike from behind, but the Neoshadow's swing still knocked her down off the wall. Four Fat Bandits came around her. Kairi started coughing up dirt, and her shakes made it hard to try and possibly stand. The arm of a Fat Bandit made contact with the side of her face, and she was thrown into the round body of one of his companions. She could feel the blood rushing to where the Heartless had hit her. She was too lightheaded to even think about moving. The Fat Bandit she had been knocked into locked its arms around her, holding her against its body as its companion reared back to shoot a fireball at her.

Rainfell was stuck in a position where she could not strike, but she could still cast. The haze on her mind lifted just enough for her to whisper "Cure" against her coughs. The green aura surrounded her and absorbed the fireball just before it could singe her face. The Fat Bandit released her in surprise. Her coughing had stopped the moment the spell had been initiated, and she quickly tightened her grip on Rainfell and swung for the Fat Bandit. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that straight attacks were useless again the round Heartless. Her Keyblade arced off its body in the same way it had struck, setting Kairi off balance. Kairi gathered her bearings just in time to jump from another attack and between two of the Heartless, getting herself outside their circle... and into a larger circle of Neoshadows and Luna Bandits. Her earlier suspicions were correct. Ambush.

A block to the Neoshadows only resulted in a strike from behind from the Fat Bandits. She recovered and countered. She continued doing this, trying her best to block the attacks, but so many were coming at once, she soon was not even able to tell if her cures were working, much less the bracelet she had gotten. Where in the worlds was Roxas?!

A flash of white, and the vague feeling of blood flowing from the back of her head. She did not even feel the actual hit. Kairi collapsed, Rainfell dropping just from the reach of her curled fingers. The fall knocked the wind out of her, and she gasped for breath, only to start coughing again. Except this time, it was not just dirt she was coughing out. Blood swam around in her mouth, staining the sandy ground below her. Black dots tainted her vision. Her body shook with every burn, every strike, but the scariest part to her was that she could not even feel it anymore.

A curse to Roxas and the fact that he really did forget about her was threatening to be coughed out when she registered No. XIII himself calling out her name. The darkness around her lessened as Heartless began to dissipate. Something locked around her shoulders and lifted her off the ground. A foreign voice, and then a warm, bitter liquid was moving down her throat. Kairi gasped as she felt all her wounds closing up. As the ringing disappeared from her ears, laughter replaced it. "Carry an elixir around next time and don't be so cocky about your magic! Got it memorized?"

"Axel! More are appearing!" It was Roxas, again. Kairi's vision straightened, and her sense of balance returned to her. The lanky red-head she knew as Axel yanked her the rest of the way to her feet as soon as she grabbed Rainfell. Roxas stood a few feet off, the Kingdom Key in hand. Axel released Kairi and held out his arms. Flames gathered around his fists and turned into two identical chakrams.

"Block and counter. We're in no rush." Another chuckle escaped Axel as he lazily spun his chakrams in his arms. The two teens obeyed without a word, and though it took longer than a more offensive approach, there was not a single other wound to speak of when all the Heartless had finally been defeated. The fight also gave Kairi time to get over the shock that a dead man just saved her life.

As soon as it was over, Kairi turned to Axel and indignantly said, "I wasn't being cocky! I've just never used an elixir before. I've hardly even heard of them."

"They're the third best thing in the worlds! You're welcome for saving your life, by the way."

"If I had been picked up on time..." Kairi grit her teeth together. The prospect of Axel being another whose sole mission was to make her squeal immediately put her on the offensive, though she managed to let Rainfell fade from her hands. "What happened? I thought everyone at Castle Oblivion was... you know..."

"Then you thought wrong. As it turns out, I'm the only one who survived."

"But how?! Why are you just showing up now?" Her eyes widened as a realization hit her, and she immediately turned to Roxas. "Is that why you're late picking me up?"

The boy was not even paying attention to her, and was instead looking off into the distance. Kairi followed his gaze, but saw nothing. When she called for him, he turned to her and Axel, then asked, "What are the first and second best things in the worlds?"

Axel chuckled at the question, and muttered something about zombies before saying, "Sea-salt ice cream is the first." A Corridor of Darkness opened. "Now, I get the feeling the noise of that fight didn't go unnoticed by the locals. Shall we go? While we're heading back, you can explain to me about that fancy Keyblade of yours."

"What's there to explain if you already know what it is?" Kairi asked as she followed Roxas inside. As best as she could tell, he was still trying to figure out what the "second best thing" was.

"How about we start with when you got it, what happened, and how the he_eeeee__ck_ you can wield one." Axel barely caught himself from saying something that he clearly deemed unnecessary for their, as he would later call them, "virgin ears."

"A few weeks ago, I was being murdered by Neoshadows, and I don't know how wielding them works."

"You're running around swinging an oversized Key at demons and you don't even know why?"

Kairi stopped walking as soon as she was out of the corridor, and Axel nearly ran into her. Roxas had stopped just a few feet ahead of them, and Kairi pointed to him as she said, "He probably doesn't know either!"

"Know what?" Roxas clearly was _still_ not paying any attention.

Axel threw back his head in laughter as he walked past them and down the hall to his room. "You people need to get it memorized! Man, I'm getting the idea the Organization isn't going to be anything like it was before I left."

As No. VIII disappeared through his door, Roxas turned back to Kairi. His face was back to its usual state of innocent puppy. "What do you think the second best thing in the worlds is?"

That question directed at her was not expected. Kairi's mouth parted to answer, but nothing would come. She could not really think of anything. "I don't know... I'd have to decide on the first before I do that."

"You don't think it's sea-salt ice cream?"

"I've never had any."

"Oh... it's really good. You should try it." Silence. "Well, goodbye, Kairi." He started for his room, then stopped, and glanced over his shoulder, smiling sheepishly. "And, uh, sorry for being late."

Once he was gone, Kairi leaned against the wall and let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. Now that she was alone, she finally let her mind function at its full. How was Axel alive when Xigbar said _everyone_ at Castle Oblivion died? What past gathering hearts did Axel think was so great about a Keyblade? How did all of those Heartless manage to sneak up on her like that? What were Axel and Roxas doing that made him so late to come and pick her up? And, though it bothered her that she was bothered by such a thing, what _was _the second best thing in the worlds?

A groan escaped her as she realized she probably should not have freed her thoughts just yet. Kairi rubbed her temples as she walked to the Grey Area. Saïx was looking out the window, his golden eyes locked on some point in space that, to Kairi at least, held no true value. He was staring so intently, she almost turned around and backed out of approaching him. For an emotionless guy, he seemed to be exceptional at making her feel uncomfortable. He was on her list with Xigbar, Demyx, and, depending on how things went over the next few days, possibly Axel.

"There were a lot of Heartless in Agrabah," she finally said. She stayed in the doorway, as if she intended to escape. Saïx never turned to her. "More than usual. I just... if I needed to go back... tomorrow and collect... yeah..."

Just as she was thinking (hoping) he had not heard her, "I will send you and Roxas for your mission tomorrow."

That last word was her key for dismissal, and Kairi had no problem turning on heel and speed-walking to the safe haven that was her room.

* * *

_~72~_

It was decided very early that morning that she would not enter the Grey Area until she had come up with a logical solution to all of her questions. Axel played dead because he was scared of Saïx. Keyblades must have greater magic ability than chakrams. The shadow globs had dulled her sense of the darkness. Roxas, being so slow-minded, had taken a lot longer than her to accept that Axel was alive and that he was not seeing things. And the second best thing, from Axel's point of view, must be fire.

These answers seemed satisfying enough, and Kairi did not want to keep Roxas waiting for too long to go on their mission. She peaked out her door into the hallway, and scowled when she saw an all too familiar Dusk standing by her door. She had found out a few days after Demyx had first shown her magic that it actually was the surviving one. It had been outside her door each morning since. Kairi stepped outside and locked her door with the Keyblade, before giving another look to the Dusk. "What's wrong with you?" Of course, it didn't respond. They never responded to her. Surely they were not still mad at her for killing that one Dusk!

When Kairi made it to the Grey Area, she was almost immediately put on guard by the fact that Roxas was grinning to a point she would almost describe as freakish. What had him so happy? Did the elixirs at the Moogle Shop go on sale? She would have to check that out. Axel would not again shame her like he did the day before. "Hey, Roxas, you almost ready?"_  
_

"Saïx is actually sending me out with Axel to Agrabah today." Roxas's grin suddenly faded, and his face held confusion while his eyes reflected sadness. "He said I'm a 'slap on the wrist.' Why would he say that?"

Honestly, as bad as it was to think in such a way, Kairi was just glad she was not the slap on the wrist. "I don't know... so what am I supposed to do today?"

"I think Saïx said you have some kind of evaluation. Axel's waiting for me, so I've got to go. See you later!" Roxas's grin returned as he went to find the Flurry of Dancing Flames. Kairi's eyebrows knit together. He sure was fond of No. VIII.

These thoughts were soon fading from Kairi's mind as she fully grasped what Roxas had said, and her breath hitched. Last time she had an evaluation, she had completely humiliated herself. Admittedly, that was before she had gained the Keyblade, and she was a lot stronger now. But the evaluation would probably also be a lot harder.

"Kairi, today you will be put under an endurance evaluation. Xigbar will be overseeing."

That was even worse than collecting emblems! Kairi squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth together. Endurance meant a bunch of crap would be thrown her way, and if Xigbar was overseeing it... she was doomed. Kairi turned to No. VII as he turned away from her and went to his usual spot by the window.

A chill ran up Kairi's spine, and she spun around, fully expecting Xigbar to be there in an attempt to scare her. Only a white wall waited behind her. A frustrated sigh passed through her lips. She was way too jumpy. That was probably why they liked to spook her so much.

"I hear you're with me today, Princess." She didn't shriek this time, but accidentally made a magical barrier come up around her as she spun to the disturbance and summoned her Keyblade. Xigbar was smart enough to stay out of range of the barrier, and was smirking at her with his one eye. "I've got my own mission today, so I'd prefer we get this done ASAP. Meet me in the Hall of Empty Melodies."

Without giving any insight as to what she may be doing, the Freeshooter teleported away. For several minutes, Kairi stood still in the Grey Area, alone once Saïx teleported out for his own mission. Everyone else had already left, excluding the Moogle. After she was sure the waves of frustration and panic had passed, Kairi dismissed Rainfell, and ran down to the Hall of Empty Melodies. Time to get it over with. She would probably hide in the library afterward, and pray Saïx did not chew her out if the results were bad.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" Kairi asked when she finally arrived at the lower level of the hall. Xigbar was standing on the balcony above, his elbows boredly propped up on the side as he looked down onto the platform where she stood.

Xigbar finally snapped his fingers, and four Dusks appeared, each in a corner of the platform. Kairi took in the quick change, before looking back up to Xigbar, who was smirking as always. In those days, she mostly managed to ignore that snide cast of his lips and eyes, but for the moment, the ominousity it cast was pulling at the edges of her nerves. It was taking all of her control to stay calm. It was just Dusks, after all. It could not be that bad of a test, right?

"We get to see how long you can go in there with the Dusks attacking you before you either call a stop or go unconscious. Have fun!"

Kairi's jaw slacked, and she was too busy gawking at Xigbar to notice the first Dusk that slithered up behind her until it struck its legs like a whip across the back of her head.

* * *

"Alright, cut it out." The spindly arms finally ceased their assault and slithered away from the blood-covered young girl in the center of the platform. Kairi slowly lifted her head from the cocoon she had made in her arms and shoulders and uncurled, at first too dazed to notice Xigbar's laughing. "You made it thirty minutes in this thing without killing a single Dusk or getting KO'd. Impressive, Princess."

Kairi grit her teeth and tried to roll onto her back, but the cuts and gashes burned too much, so she ended up on her side again. The raw, split skin across her back, on her legs, and on the parts of her arms that she had left unprotected was oozing with blood. A weak cure spell came around her, slowing the bleeding and easing the pain just enough that she was able to stand. She would have much rather been knocked out and suffer only minor pestering than withdraw and have them going on for over a week. It seemed, though, that she would not have to suffer either, since Xigbar was the one who called it off. "So... I'm done?"

"Pretty much." Xigbar threw a small bottle down at her. She almost missed it, as her reflexes had slowed thanks to her blood loss. As soon as it was secured in her hands, Kairi yanked the lid off the potion and lifted the bitter green liquid to her lips. Since she refused to attack Dusks, the potions went quickly, and thanks to all the barriers she tried to put up there was hardly enough energy in her to try cure spells. If Xigbar had let it run for even a minute longer, she would probably be unconscious. "Roxas had only been here sixteen days when he lasted an hour with hardly a scratch."

The bottle fell from Kairi's hands and shattered. Her fist clenched where she had been holding the potion, then slowly lowered back to her side as she wordlessly left the room. Xigbar had again fulfilled his duty to upset her. Why did she have to be compared to Roxas, the _Key of Destiny?_

Since her problem was not really with Roxas, but rather with Xigbar's comparing her to Roxas (and everyone else who did it through thought,) she assumed her anger would evaporate rather quickly. But combined with all the other stress and annoyance from the past day- nearly being killed by a horde of Heartless because Axel distracted Roxas, Axel playing dead and then returning like nothing had happened, the insult to her magic, and then the entire present day as a whole- she did not relax a bit until she was sitting down in the castle's library, retreating there as she had previously planned. She just needed something to help her unwind, she decided. She was actually feeling a bit ridiculous about storming out of the training hall, and could only hope Xigbar would have no need to bring it up again.

Sighing, Kairi sat crosslegged against one of the bookshelves and scanned the titles along the other side of the row. Just like it did in her dreams, even just being in the presence of the books did wonders for calming her down. She almost felt like she could see the old library from her dreams again, with no annoying coworkers and a day of adventure awaiting her. Even some of the titles were similar to the books she had seen in that library. They were all familiar to her, but she did not realize just how familiar until she saw _"The Mastery of Illusionary Magic- Zexion"_ printed in gold letters along the binding.

It wasn't the title that was familiar, but something else. Kairi reached over to the shelf and pulled the book down. That name, the one of the author, was what had drawn her attention. One of the former Organization XIII members, yes, but seeing it in writing, she noticed that there was something simply _different_ about it than just a Zexion she had heard a few souls talk about.

Her finger slid over the "X," and her mind automatically rearranged the letters to spell "Ienzo."

* * *

**A/N Clearly Kairi doesn't get the whole deal about the Keyblades choosing people. Actually, she has many misconceptions about a lot of things, due to her memory issues. So, just remember, the misconceptions are hers, not mine.**

**Thought 14: Why didn't the pasts of the Organization members play any decent part in the canon story?**

**Merry (late) Christmas, and Happy New Year!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I only own the plot.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

_~Day 73~_

"This is the castle..." Roxas's voice trailed off as they looked over the new world that he and Kairi had been sent to. Ghoulish statues, dark stone, and large doors were waiting at the other side of the bridge. A gate behind them led to a less than traveled forest.

Kairi turned in a slow circle as she looked around the area they had just appeared in. "Pretty dark."

A foreboding roar sent Kairi into a battle stance, but Roxas did not even flinch. Kairi summoned Rainfell, but with no Heartless in sight, Roxas failed to react. Of course, he could not sense them like she could...

"What was that roar?" Roxas asked the air. Kairi shrugged in response anyway. He put a hand to his chin as he thought. "It came from inside... maybe it's the Heartless we're after?" Again, she shrugged. "I guess we'll find out. Time to head in and take a look."

Kairi nodded, and followed Roxas, Rainfell still clutched tightly in her slender gloved hand. The Heartless were growing nearer, she could feel. They had almost made it to the grand doors when a Possessor and another species of Heartless she had never seen before appeared. A dog-like Emblem Heartless.

Shockwaves from the dogs caught them both off guard and knocked them to the ground right as Roxas summoned the Kingdom Key to his hand. One of the dogs pounced at Kairi, but she used her Keyblade to swat it off towards Roxas. Still on the ground, she did not see the second one until it had clamped its jagged mouth around her right arm. It pierced her skin, and she had to bite back a scream as the darkness of the Heartless made contact with her blood. She quickly rolled straight over the Heartless, at first making it clamp harder onto her, but then it loosed enough for her to shake it off. The dog tumbled across the ground, and Kairi shifted her Keyblade to her good arm and shot a ball of fire at it. The dog yelped before fading into the darkness.

The aura of a cure spell surrounded her arm as Kairi turned toward Roxas, who had already defeated the other dog, and was mindlessly swatting at the Possessor that had come up like a cloud around his head. Kairi leveled her Keyblade with the Possessor. "Roxas, down!" He quickly crouched, and Kairi called out, "Freeze!" Ice shot from Rainfell and froze around the Possessor. As the ice chunk fell, Roxas sliced it with his Keyblade, and the ice shattered onto the ground. The Possessor was gone. Kairi could feel no Heartless in the immediate vicinity.

Kairi took a second to catch her breath, as she assumed Roxas was doing when he did not move. When her breathing pattern returned to normal, she approached her crouched partner and stuck her Keyblade in the ground to lean on. "You alright?"

Roxas lifted his head and squinted at Kairi with cloudy eyes. "Xion?"

"Not quite." Kairi lifted her Keyblade and set it on his head and quickly cured her friend. As soon as the green aura came around him, the light returned to his eyes and he swattered her Keyblade away from his spiky hair. "I didn't know Possessors could cause hallucinations."

Roxas shook his head as he stood, as if that would help clear his mind. "Sorry, I... you know you two look alike." _Only according to you._ "And she's been missing for a while now. I was just confused."

"Don't beat yourself up over it." Kairi smiled weakly at him, but he still seemed greatly distressed by it. "Infiltrate the castle?"

"Right." The Kingdom Key vanished from his hand, and Roxas approached the large doors. He pushed one open, then waved for Kairi to follow him.

On the other side was the castle's courtyard, which was expansive and empty, but Kairi could feel the presence of many Heartless lurking inside of it. On the opposite side from where they stood was the entrance to the mystical castle. Kairi followed Roxas, who chose to ignore any Heartless that showed up on their way since they were all Purebloods, and they came to the castle's entrance. "Can we just go in?"

"I guess so." Roxas grabbed the large handle on the door and pulled... but it did not move an inch. "It won't budge... must be locked from the inside."

"Try your Keyblade."

Nodding, Roxas summoned the Kingdom Key to his hand and pointed it at the keyhole on the door. Light surrounded the tip of the blade, then flashed in a narrow beam of light into hole. Kairi tried the door again, but still nothing.

"Maybe they only work from one end?" she suggested.

"One more idea." He leaned his head against the door, putting his ear to it. "Hit it." Though not entirely sure where he was going with it, Kairi obeyed and gave the door a hard side-kick. "I heard something rattling. It must be blocked."

"Whoever lives here will know for sure that someone's been snooping if we try and break it." Kairi sighed and walked back down the stairs into the courtyard. She turned back to the building, trying to guess the height to the nearest window. "Maybe if we climb on the wall..."

"Those statues aren't aligned."

"What?" She gave Roxas a quizzical stare. Roxas simply nodded back to the courtyard.

"The statues. There's clearly certain spots where they're supposed to be, but only one is actually in its place."

He was more clever than they all gave him credit for. That, or he had no attention span whatsoever. A quick look over the courtyard proved him right. "Think we can move them?"

"Easy!" Roxas jumped down the steps and ran to the first statue. He whacked the base of it with his Keyblade, and it slid towards the marked spot in the courtyard, clicking into place once it hovered over it. As he moved to the second, Kairi ran to the other side of the courtyard to get the last one.

Once they had all slid into place, the sound of rock scraping against rock came from beside the castle steps. Kairi and Roxas looked over and saw a panel of stone sliding back and then up as dust and pebbles fell down around it. They looked to each other and shared a small smile. Entrance found.

They met at the new door and immediately ducked inside of the passage. They took a minute to let their eyes adjust to the dark. There was a near immediate dead end, but Roxas resolved that quite easily by unlocking a fairly obvious large Keyhole (Kairi couldn't help but wonder the size of the people in that world, if they would intend to use keys so large as something other than a weapon.) A fake wall slid away, revealing the passage to be far deeper than they had first seen. They continued unlocking the doors, taking out the occasional straggler Heartless, but by the time they had made a complete circle in the passage, the target Heartless had yet to be seen.

"We've seen allot more Soldiers in here than outside, so the Sergeant has got to be around here somewhere." Roxas kicked at a chest with his foot, and it opened to reveal a Hi-Potion that had been sitting there Kingdom Hearts knew how long. Going by the the many layers of dust, it had been at least ten years since anybody had even been up in the passage.

Kairi pulled herself atop one of the crates that lined the corridor. On the other side, a large chunk of the wall was missing. Kairi leaned through the crack and looked down. "Maybe he's down here. This looks like the entrance hall."

Roxas jumped up beside her on the crate, and she allowed him a look. Roxas shot her a grin before flinging himself over the edge, somersaulting through the air before landing in a kneeling position. He looked back up to Kairi, who rolled her eyes before jumping down after him, having a much less eventful but much more graceful flight and landing.

"It's awfully quiet..." Roxas pointed out when they were both standing again. "Is nobody home?"

"Something is. I can sense its darkness." Kairi quickly turned to look up the stairs just as the Sergeant formed. In synchronized flashes of light, the twos' Keyblades appeared in their respective hands. Between the two of them, the oversized Soldier was gone in minutes.

"Mission accomplished." Roxas twirled his Keyblade once before dismissing it into the light. "That was actually really easy. I wonder why Saïx sent us together if either us could do it on our own..."

Another loud roar ripped through the halls of the castle, reverberating off the walls. Kairi shuddered. "Maybe it has something to do with that?"

"What was that?" Roxas took cautious steps towards the stairs, where they presumed the sound came from. "Another Heartless? Or... something besides the Heartless?" Kairi came up beside him and they glanced up the steps, which unfortunately turned out of view on both sides. She looked to her partner to see if they would be investigating the horrific noise. "Hmm... well, Saïx's orders were to RTC as soon as the mission was done. We'd better call it a day."

Kairi nodded, but it was still a full minute before either of them moved, as they were both still contemplating going on the potential adventure before them. But, Saïx had probably had the rest of the castle blocked off to them for just that reason. Still, there was the temptation to work around the barriers, since exploring a new castle would probably be a lot more fun than her recent activity of sitting in her room and trying to figure out how the little Ienzo from her dreams somehow became a Nobody and worked for Organization XIII before he was wiped out at Castle Oblivion.

Roxas was the first to move, leading them to the front door that was barred by a wooden plank, which explained why they could not enter through there before. "Looks like this is the only way out."

They lifted the plank off and set it quietly to the side, hoping to not disturb the inhabitants of the castle any more than they might have already. A lecture for breaking their cover was not something either of them wanted. Roxas pushed open the door, and sure enough, they were standing out in the courtyard again. He held it open for Kairi to pass through, and she had already started down the steps before realizing that he wasn't following. She looked back and saw him staring back through the door.

"It's probably a really big castle. It'd be easy to get lost. And with that thing, whatever it was, running around in there..." He was staring at the ground then.

"I'm sure she's fine, Roxas," Kairi said, gently. The blonde boy looked at his partner in surprise, probably at the fact that she knew who he was thinking about. The same person he had been muttering about for the entire mission. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Roxas let the heavy door slide shut as he ran down the steps after Kairi, who was leading the way to the bridge. When they arrived at the Corridor of Darkness, he said, "I've got somewhere to be. You can navigate the corridors on your own, can't you?"

_"Somewhere to be?"_ she thought. _Looking f__or Xion?_"Yeah. Bye, Roxas." She stepped in through the portal, which closed almost immediately afterward. "I guess I'm stuck doing the report alone, then. Joy."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_~Day 74~_

"Heart collection in Beast's Castle?!" Kairi could not hide the disbelief in her voice. "But there's hardly any Emblem Heartless there! It's infested with Purebloods!"

"You've been given your orders, No. XV." Saïx's eyes were concentrated into what felt to Kairi a glare, though his face otherwise remained emotionless. He held a paper out to her, which Kairi numbly accepted. "No. II will meet you on the bridge when your mission is complete."

_Xigbar? Oh, great._ "Why not Roxas?" The golden eyes were doing it again, this time carrying the warning that she should not be asking such irrelevant questions. "It's going to take me a few hours." She warned as she left him. The paper was shoved in her pocket, as the information carried nothing significant to her. She had seen what types of Heartless would be there when she had gone to the castle the day before. She was more interested in finding out why Roxas was not meeting her after her mission. He had been doing it for over two weeks, and combined with the fact that he was not in the Grey Area with them only made her think it could not be good. Had he fallen into a coma again?

Kairi slid onto the couch by Demyx, who was lazily strumming at his Sitar. He glanced over at her, and, finding nothing of interest, went back to his Sitar. "I'm writing a new song. It's about two friends who are separated from each other for a year because he went into a coma after a war, and then she joined the enemy. So when they meet up again they try and kill each other."

For the moment, Roxas was dropped from her mind. "What kind of twisted story is that?!"

"Writing music is hard when you don't have emotions to put into it."

"You're heartless."

"Exactly!"

A sigh escaped Kairi as she shook her head. They were getting far too off topic. "Have you heard about Roxas?"

"What about him?"

"I'm asking you! He's not in trouble, is he?"

"How should I know? Here's the riff before the bridge!" Demyx loudly played a string of chords, and Kairi had to place her palms over her ears to avoid going deaf.

As soon as the riff was over, she continued before he could decide to go into a full-out concert for her. "He's not in another coma or anything, is he?"

"I saw him a few minutes ago, just before you came in." Demyx settled back down and began to lightly strum as he talked. "He and Axel went to Twilight Town to find Xion or something."

"Find her?!"

"Yes...?" He said it more like a question than a statement.

"Why is she missing? How long has she been missing?"

"I don't know and I don't care!Why are you asking me all these questions?!" She didn't realize how close she had been getting to him with her questioning until he was swatting her away. Kairi rolled off the back of the couch and backed away before he could hit her with his Sitar.

"Never mind. Good luck with the song." _Yeesh, he's never gotten that angry_ _before...__ Well, at least Roxas isn't comatose again. I can survive one trip with Xigbar... I think..._

* * *

If anything, the endeavor was helping her strengthen her Heartless-sensing abilities, as she was slowly becoming able to distinguish between Pureblood and Emblem Heartless. If she was correct, there were only Pureblood Heartless left at the bridge, the courtyard, and in the secret passage where she had been hunting so far. Which meant she would have to go into the main part of the castle to continue her mission.

She sat in front of the stained glass window, allowing the light coming through it from the entrance hall to light up the paper she held in her hands. She only needed a few more hearts in order to hit the minimum, but there were not enough Emblem Heartless in the entrance that she could sense, which meant she would have to go up the stairs into the uncharted area where the roaring had been coming from the day before. There were plenty of Heartless up there for her to get; no doubt something else was with them.

The near presence of darkness alerted her that the Purebloods had found her. Be they Shadows or Possessors, she didn't want to find out. Kairi stuffed the paper back into her pocket, her gloved fingers brushing against the elixir she now always kept with her. She quickly stood and ran in the opposite way of the Purebloods until she came to the large break in the wall that overlooked the entrance hall. She jumped onto the crate and crept to the edge, looking down into the room where she had fought the Sergeant with Roxas the day before.

Rainfell flashed into her hand, and Kairi held it with the blade facing downwards over the room below. "Aero." A gust of wind burst from her Keyblade and spiraled down to the floor, its contact with the carpet catching the attention of four hidden Soldiers and two Shadows. The six Heartless appeared in a circle around where the Aero had hit, all trying to find the source of the magic burst. Oh, how she wished at that moment that she knew thunder magic to just wipe them all out from her aerial position.

Kairi threw herself over the edge, her Keyblade held out to the side as she free fell to the Heartless. They became aware of her too late. As her feet hit the ground, she swung her Keyblade into two of the Soldiers. One of them hit a Shadow, and both Shadow and Soldier instantly dissipated. Another quick swipe at the recovering Soldier left him fading back into the darkness.

She could sense another Soldier behind her, and quickly ducked from its kick. Her hand flung back, Keyblade automatically locking onto the demon, and at her verbal command fire flew from the tip of the blade into the Heartless. She heard the clanking of the Soldier writhing under her spell and immediately moved on to the last Soldier and Shadow. She blocked a cyclone attack from the Soldier, knocking it off balance, and a few good whacks with her Keyblade sent it back to the Realm of Darkness. The Shadow came up behind her, but she knocked the Keyblade's guard into it and sent it back into the still lit Soldier. Both of them faded away, and a bright heart escaped the body of the Soldier.

"That's four more." She dismissed Rainfell and reproduced the crumpled paper Saïx had given her from her pocket, along with a red crayon, and quickly wrote in the number, as well as what types of Heartless she had fought. Notes would make it easier when she had to write the report later. "I just need three more."

Unfortunately, the only other Emblem Heartless she could sense were in the castle's East Wing, quite possibly with whatever monstrosity had been making that noise the day before. Without Roxas there with her, it suddenly did not seem quite as interesting.

Kairi already had Rainfell summoned as she crept up the stairs, quickly glancing up the West Wing's stairs to make sure whatever monster inhabited the castle did not sneak up on her. She could not sense something large enough to have been making that noise, which meant it was not a Heartless. That just meant she would have absolutely no warning if it chose to attack her.

The East Wing did not seem too ferocious. No Heartless or other monster in sight, from the top of the stairs. It was just a long hall with statues lining it on one side, windows on the other, and, from what she could see, a door at the end of it. Somewhere between where she stood and that door were her last three hearts. As well as a number of Purebloods, should her sense of the darkness be correct.

One step into the hall, and one of the statues leaped at her from the wall. A struggled noise came out as Kairi lifted her Keyblade to block the ax bearing down on her. Kairi pushed on her Keyblade to shove the Gargoyle Warrior away. She quickly leveled her Keyblade at its base and yelled "Fira!"

The flame burst from her Keyblade and hit the statue, and instantly dissipated. The statue was unharmed, and started spinning with its ax extended towards Kairi. She ducked under the attack, narrowly avoiding getting the blade in her skull. The Gargoyle Warrior still hit her hard enough to knock her several feet away and onto her back.

She felt the presence of a Heartless so close it was almost suffocating. She rolled to the side, and two Shadows appeared where she had just been. A Large Body came up behind them.

Kairi stood just in time to run from another spin attack from the Gargoyle Warrior, then had to use a magical barrier to block the two Shadows from swiping at her. The Large Body jumped and hit the ground, the shock wave hard enough to throw her off balance. She barely blocked another attack from the Gargoyle Warrior before she aimed her Keyblade at the Large Body. "Freeze!"

The Heartless went still as ice formed around it, allowing her to ignore its presence for the time, but a Soldier appeared in front of it. Kairi blocked attacks from the two Shadows, knocking them off balance so that she could quickly strike them back to oblivion. By that time, the Soldier's cyclone attack was close enough that she could catch its leg on her Keyblade and throw it.

The first strike of the ax was only close enough to scrape her face, but it was enough to send Kairi into a momentary panic. She barely ducked under the next swing, close enough that it most definitely would have decapitated her, and then she lunged to a point where the Gargoyle Warrior was standing in between her and the Soldier, and on the other side of the Soldier was the almost free Large Body. The ice spell wore off, but not before she could give the call of, "Magnet!" The spell caught the Large Body, and pulled it to her so suddenly it caught the Gargoyle Warrior and the still recovering Soldier in its path. Kairi barely scrambled out of the way to avoid getting hit by the three Heartless before they crashed into the wall and faded back into the darkness.

Rainfell disappeared, and Kairi let her shoulder fall onto the wall to support her tired body. A hand went to her face, to the cut that was dripping blood down her cheek. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out the elixir- she was too tired to try a cure spell- and drank the glowing liquid quickly. The cut on her face sealed over, the only evidence being the drops of blood along her cheek that she failed to wipe off as she pulled the paper and crayon out of her pocket. "Two down, one to go..."

"Oh, Kairi!"

The auburn-haired girl instinctively turned to the call, only to be greeted by arms wrapping around her in a tight hug. She took in a sharp breath at the sudden contact, and her fist clenched, ready to summon Rainfell, but the new presence did not seem threatening. It actually felt completely different than the usual dangers she faced. Not the darkness of a Heartless, but rather, it felt like... light.

"I'm so glad you're here! But, _how_ did you get here?" The arms were suddenly gone from around her and the person took a step back, unfazed by Kairi's lack of reaction. Kairi finally got a look at the modest beauty in front of her, with her long hair messily tied back and hazel eyes that watched her with concern, though her body language and face simply said she was happy Kairi was there. But why would she... and how did she know...?

_Xigbar's going to kill me for losing my cover._ "The front door was unlocked." Not that she took the front door, but she would rather her knowledge of the secret passage go unknown.

"I meant, how did you get to this world? The last time I saw you was in Hollow Bastion."

_What's a bastion?_ "I found a way..."

The young woman- she was surely no older than seventeen- squinted her eyes slightly as show she was bothered by Kairi's incredibly indirect answer, but, much to Kairi's thanks, did not push the subject. "Alright... _why_ are you here?"

"Heartless." It wasn't a lie, but it was vague enough that the stranger could take it however she wanted, depending on how the Heartless were thought of in that world. _I need to get away, I need to get away, I need to... that last Heartless is in the room at the end of the hall. I have to get there somehow. But I can't just shove past her, because that'll put her and anyone else who lives here on the alert for the Organization. Not to mention it'd be kind of rude._ "How... have things been since we last saw each other?" She could play along long enough to get the Heartless._  
_

"Rough. I've just been sitting in my chambers for most of it." Just as Kairi hoped, the young woman turned and started walking back to the room at the end of the hall. "At least the castle has a big library. I'm never bored as long as I have access to that!"

Kairi forced down the little voice in her that requested access to said big library. She was there on a mission, and for nothing else! Talking to this woman- who Kairi assumed was mistaking her for someone else due to poor lighting- was a necessity for completing her given task. Then again, though, if she really thought Kairi was someone else, how did she know her name?_  
_

She would have to find out another day. Kairi shoved the paper and crayon into her pocket before following the woman to the back room. "How long have the Heartless been pestering you?"

"Since before all of the business in Hollow Bastion, though I don't remember exactly how long before. It's definitely gotten worse though, which is the other reason I just stay in here all day. I think they have a hard time getting into my chambers."

Kairi was about to ask what the original reason for staying in her chambers was, as she could not recall this woman ever saying, but before she could they had stepped into the room, and an oversized green Bad Dog appeared on top of the chamber's bed. Rainfell was in Kairi's hand in an instant. "Fira!" The blast was hard enough to knock the Snapper Dog off the other side of the bed. Kairi rolled over the mattress and landed smoothly on the other side, giving the Emblem Heartless two good whacks before it was up again and had clamped its fangs on her right arm. Kairi yelled and stumbled back, dropping Rainfell. She kicked at the Snapper Dog, which let go of her arm, taking a chunk of coat and skin with it. Kairi bit down another scream as she grabbed her Keyblade with her left hand to cure herself.

The Snapper Dog barked at her, releasing physical waves that knocked her back into the bed post. Splinters caught the side of her face as she slipped several inches down the post, but then she regained herself enough to lift the Keyblade. _Cura!_ Her mouth moved to say the word, but no sound came out. Kairi started. Rainfell vanished as her left hand went to her throat, her bleeding right arm cradled against her stomach. Kairi gasped, but no sound was produced. Her eyes widened in fear as the Snapper Dog tried to bite at her again.

_How did it silence me?_ She barely ducked under the lunge from the Snapper Dog and rolled in the opposite direction of it, unable to make any sound of displeasure at further hurting her arm. _That bark must be magical!__  
_

The Snapper Dog was facing her again. Kairi summoned her Keyblade into her lesser hand and tried to swing at the charging Heartless, but it was easily able to knock it from her grip and send it out onto the balcony. Kairi swung at the Heartless with her left hand, but hardly got close. Her right arm hurt too much to move it, and she had no way of healing. She kicked her leg at it, but the Dog caught the limb between its teeth.

Her brief scream before it had thrown her to the floor was enough to break the silence spell, not that it did her much good with her Keyblade ten feet away and her leg in the creature's mouth. Blood seeped through her pants leg and coat, warm and unwelcome.

The creature suddenly stiffened, and its mouth fell open, releasing Kairi, as it turned to the young woman Kairi had by that point nearly forgotten. She held a book in her hand, which she seemed to have whacked the monster with. While it did no damage to the Snapper Dog, it had distracted it just enough. Kairi quickly crawled with her good arm towards her Keyblade, biting down cries for her injured leg scraping across the floor. She heard the Heartless barking and the woman scurrying around to avoid its attacks.

Kairi was panting by the time she made it to Rainfell. She snatched up the Keyblade, then rolled onto her back, lifting her head just enough to see. The woman was backing slowly into the hall, aiming the book threateningly at the Snapper Dog. It bent its knees, ready to pounce, but before it had the chance Kairi aimed her Keyblade at it and yelled, "Fira!"

The fire hit the creature, and it erupted in a show of light and darkness. A bright heart flew up out of the mess and to the skies. To Kingdom Hearts.

_There goes the last one._ Kairi's head fell back against the floor, giving her a brief view of the starry sky before she squinted her eyes shut and grit her teeth in pain. The blood, the pain, it was becoming too much, and she thought she was about to pass out... she was far too weak to try and cure herself now. _Maybe if I wait a few minutes the pain will stop enough to go back to the castle... a short nap would probably help..._

"Are you alright?!"

_There's a bunch of giant holes in my leg and on my_ _arm._

"Hold on!" The woman was shuffling around the room. Kairi's head lulled to the side, and she opened her eyes to see a crooked image of the woman running to a chest near the bed and pulling out a- oh, Kingdom Hearts, it was a potion!

The woman ran over to Kairi, and knelt beside her. Kairi accepted the potion and quickly drank it. The pain in her arm and leg almost instantly disappeared. Chills ran up her spine at the feel of her skin sealing itself, and she was finally able to sit up. The potion wasn't strong enough to completely heal the area under the skin, but Kairi could worry about that when she had RTCd."Thank you."

The woman nodded in reply. "How long have you been able to use a Keyblade, and magic like that?"

Kairi slowly stood, using the wall to help support herself. "A while..." She knew what a Keyblade was? "I've been using it to fight Heartless." While it was already quite obvious what Kairi used the Keyblade for, it did help to distract the woman from what she was hiding. Then, to try and get completely off the subject, Kairi gestured to the vanity against the wall. "May I?"

The young woman nodded, giving Kairi a smile that reminded her of her Grandmother's in the dream. They were both very gentle. And yet this woman in front of her had absolutely no problem whacking a Heartless upside the head. Kairi stood and looked at the vanity, examining the several splinters still in her face. She would rather her skin not try to heal around it. The potion was not strong enough to do that, but if she had an elixir without taking them out, she would definitely regret it. As gently as she could, she began to pull them out of her skin. _I need to learn how to dodge better, because running around like a fool is getting me nowhere._

"Are you the only one here?" The woman continued trying to make conversation. Kairi's silence must have been unnerving to her. "Are Donald, Goofy, and So-"

That roaring. The same monstrous call as the day before. Kairi accidentally yanked on a splinter so hard in her surprise that she drew blood. _Now's my chance to get out of here! The splinters can wait! _"It's probably more Heartless! I can get them." Kairi quickly turned from the vanity and ran as fast as her body, now reawakened by the horrific sound of the monster, would take her. She hit the door and spat out a quick goodbye to the woman before running down the hall back towards the entrance, still with a light limp, ignoring the woman's pleas for her to wait.

She did not stop until she was outside of the castle and onto the bridge, where Xigbar was polishing his twin Arrowguns. He must have heard the doors to the courtyard shutting behind her, because he almost immediately looked up at her when she had passed through. "Took you long enough, Princess."

"There was a Snapper Dog. I've never fought one before, so it took me a little while," she said in her defense. She decided it was best not to tell him about her encounter with the woman in order to avoid a two hour lecture on how the Organization was supposed to be running a covert operation.

"Those things? You had trouble taking _that_ down?" he chuckled, much to Kairi's annoyance.

"It silenced me! I couldn't use any magic!"

"So? It's not even that big of a Heartless! You couldn't just kill it with melee?"

"I don't know..." And judgement was once again passed. Even if the mission was successful, it sure felt like a failure right then. "Can we RTC now?"

The first thing Kairi did when she returned to the castle was get the splinters out of her face (she would rather not be questioned by the other members about them,) then she drank an elixir while quickly finishing up the report, again leaving out the part of the woman she had run into. The report finished, she jumped up off her bed and made her way out of her room and towards Saïx's office to drop it off. _I guess I'll go and start working on my new dodge tactics after this... Roxas does a dodge roll, but he typically has a lower stance than I do, so it's a lot easier for him. I'll have to think about this._

A Corridor of Darkness sprung up in front of her, and she barely stopped herself before walking through it. She heard voices coming through the darkness, and quickly stepped out of the way and behind the portal so that she did not run into whoever was on the other side. Normally, a person arriving after a mission was of no real interest- especially if it was Demyx, who had a tendency to whine if his mission had anything to do with violence. Due to this, Kairi was very soon walking to get to Saïx's office.

Her plight stopped when she heard the laughter. Kairi turned as the Corridor of Darkness faded, now revealing Axel, Roxas, and Xion. Apparently, the mission was successful. They were all laughing over something Roxas must have said in the corridor, since Axel slapped him upside the head. Roxas grinned at Axel, who shook his head while he continued to laugh.

Kairi quickly turned and began walking again as an inexplicable pain entered her chest, where she would later find out was where her heart should have been.

* * *

**A/N Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney, save for the plot, which is mine.**

**Though 15: Why are the beings composed of hearts without bodies the Heartless, and the beings composed of bodies without hearts Nobodies?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_~Day 77~_

_'I can't decide what to think of what I've gathered from the entire Zexion/Ienzo discovery. I know they're the same person, because I found a picture of Zexion in the library, and he is without a doubt a matured Ienzo. But what happened to him, and why did he change his name? We didn't lose our hearts at the same time, since I lost mine just a few days before he was killed, and I know he was here at least long enough to write those books. I feel weird asking the other members about it, so I guess I'm stuck wondering until I find some Organization XIII records or something. But why did he lose his heart before I lost mine? How does one lose their heart anyway?_

_'I've also been thinking more about those other images that were in my first dream here in the castle. They've become a bit fuzzy in my mind, but there's a rough sketch a few pages back of one of those monsters I saw. It doesn't look like any Heartless I've encountered, but it's not as if I've seen them all. I'll draw a few of the other images once I get back from my mission today._

_'I've learned a lot of magic over the past few weeks, most of which I can use in battle. The only thing I'm really having trouble with so far is the illusion magic I've been trying to learn from that book Zexion wrote. Almost everything I'm reading is going right over my head. Everything else is coming along nicely, though.'_

Kairi clapped the notebook shut and slid it under her pillow, where it slid to a stop against a number of elixirs and all the munny she had been collecting. Sometimes, once slain, Heartless would leave munny on the ground. Why demons carried munny with them, she did not know, but she was not complaining.

She was already dressed, so she immediately left her room, locking it after herself with the Keyblade. She did not know if the Dusks could still unlock it when she had locked it with her weapon, but so far they had not broken into the room. Yet, that one Dusk always stood by her door.

After stopping in the kitchen for a short breakfast- something she typically forgot to do- Kairi made it to the Grey Area just as Saïx was assigning a mission to Xion and Roxas, who had been pairing up since Xion's return in an attempt to capture more hearts. "You will be destroying Shadow Globs in Agrabah."

"Agrabah?" Kairi questioned as she came up to them. "I had that same mission not even a week ago! I got rid of all the Shadow Globs! Can they return that quickly?"

"Typically, it takes several months for a single Shadow Glob to spread to the extent they have in Agrabah. You must have left behind many more than you thought. Since you are incapable of destroying them properly, our other two Keyblade Wielders will be taking care of it. You will be with Axel in Twilight Town today collecting hearts." He shoved a paper into her hands, and then left. Kairi gawked in the direction of where he had been standing.

"Their return isn't my fault," she assured herself. "I _did_ destroy all of those Shadow Globs."

"You ready to go?" Axel stepped in front of her, bringing her mind back to her mission.

_My first mission with Axel. This should be interesting._ "Yeah. Let's go."

The entire way to Twilight Town was spent with Kairi mentally walking herself through Agrabah, trying to discover where she might not have checked for the Shadow Globs. Obviously, she did not search every corner of the city, but she had been close enough to every part of the city that she should have been able to sense all of them, so there should not have been any left, even if her sensing ability was not working at its best. How did they repopulate so fast?

"Hello? Kairi? Anyone home?" Black lines were running in front of her face, and Kairi started when she realized it was Axel's fingers being waved before her.

"Sorry! Thinking."

Axel chuckled. "You're almost as spacey as Roxas."

"I don't do it all the time!"

"I did say almost. Well, in case you haven't noticed, we've arrived." Axel gestured around them to the sunbathed back street that had been Kairi's first glimpse of the vast town. "Sense any Heartless nearby?"

Kairi closed her eyes as she allowed her senses to stretch out and search for the imposing darkness. "There's a bunch of Emblem down that way, in the Sandlot. I sense a few more and a pretty big one down in the Tram Common."

"Then we'll make our way through those and see what we get!" Axel clapped his hands together and started rubbing them in anticipation. "Now, I can weaken the Heartless, but you have to be the one to actually kill them if we're going to let the Hearts go to Kingdom Hearts. Got it memorized?"

By the time they went through all of the Casters in the Sandlot and several Surveillance Robots in the Tram Common, it was evident that Axel was a master of fire magic... and very much a pyromaniac. She jumped every time he would yell _"Burn baby!"_ and then she would give him a look as if he were mad.

"Is that what the second best thing in the worlds is?" she asked once they had dispelled a group of Dire Plants.

Axel's maniacal grin faded, and this time, he looked at her like she was the crazy one. "What?"

"When you first came back from C.O., you said that sea-salt ice cream was the best thing in all the worlds, and that elixirs were the third best. I was just wondering if fire was the second best."

Axel chuckled and dispelled his chakrams, crossing his arms. "Any other Heartless nearby? We've hit the minimum, but Saïx will probably get on our backs for slacking if you don't at least get a few more."

_That doesn't answer my question. _Still, she closed her eyes and allowed the darkness to creep towards her until she could place it. "That big one I was talking about earlier is near the Tram Yard, but that's all the Heartless in this area."

"Then let's get that and RTC. I'm due for a nap." Axel jumped off of the rooftop they were standing on, landing upright on the ground with his hands at the ready to summon his chakrams despite having been told no enemies were near. Kairi followed him down, then through the quiet Tram Common as he calmly walked between buildings- avoiding the civilians- to the Tram Yard. "It's somewhere in here?"

Kairi glanced around the abandoned yard, unable to see the target. "I can sense it somewhere back here, but it's moving so fast-" A flaming chakram flew through her vision. Kairi summoned her Keyblade and turned to where the Heartless had appeared.

Axel began spewing profanity from behind her as the chakram he had thrown flew back into his hand. "The stupid Zip Slasher's immune to magic! Great!"

Kairi lifted her Keyblade and blocked a slash from the blade-like hands of the Heartless, skidding back a few feet from the harsh impact. "Can you still fight without your pyro?"

"'Course! It just takes all the fun out it..." Axel threw his chakrams boomerang-style at the Zip Slasher, both pointed disks flying back to him after knocking the Emblem Heartless in the back of the head. It turned back to him, its armor hardly scratched, and quickly went into a spin with its arms held out at its side. The cyclone moved dangerously close to Axel in less than a second, and he barely had time to lift his chakrams to block the attack. It immediately straightened and jabbed with its bladed arms. Axel caught the weapons in his chakrams, releasing it with a kick to its midsection.

The Zip Slasher skidded several feet back, and Kairi ran to intercept it. She hit it hard enough with Rainfell to send it onto its back, but before she could jab it, its blade sliced through her boot and dug into her ankle. Kairi's balance was thrown as she instinctively jumped from it. Her bad foot unable to support her, she quickly fell to the ground, barely concealing a scream of pain. _Not in front of Axel!_

She heard the _ching!_ of the Zip Slasher's blade digging into the ground, and she quickly rolled in the opposite direction of it. The next arm pierced the ground where her head had just been. Axel's chakram hit the ground in front of the Zip Slasher before it could attack Kairi again. It jumped back to its feet and charged Axel.

Kairi placed her palms on the ground and forced herself to a sitting position, wincing as her bleeding foot dragged along the ground. She had dismissed her Keyblade when she had first fallen, so she quickly summoned it and cast a cure spell. The blood stopped escaping the wound as the skin sealed itself, but the boot was still ripped. Muttering to herself, Kairi yanked it off, not wanting to trip on it later. The other came off as well, since she had damaged the heel on it with her rough landing and it would be ridiculous to just wear one.

In her momentary reprieve, the Zip Slasher seemed to have forgotten about her, because after doing a back handspring to get away from Axel, it had landed dangerously close to her with its back turned. "Catch, Axel!" Kairi snatched up Rainfell again and lunged from her temporary seat and at the Zip Slasher. Despite its incredible speed, by the time it had turned to her, her Keyblade had struck it and it was flying towards No. VIII.

He caught it on his chakrams, one of the spokes finally managing to pierce the creature's armor. It shook vehemently, and Axel dropped it onto the ground, the chakrams soon fading from its back. "Would you please do the honors, No. XV?"

Kairi cautiously approached it with her Keyblade at the ready, not eager to possibly have its blade in her flesh again. Her eyes focused on the hole in its armor where the darkness seeped out like fog. "Axel, are you sure it's-?"

"It won't be if you don't kill it." He crossed his arms at her, then turned in the direction of the Tram Station. "Don't take too long. It's already sunset."

Why the position of the sun was such a big deal, she did not know, and she did not have time to ask because the Zip Slasher jumped to its feet and did a spin-attack at the distracted No. VIII. "Barrier!" The magical sphere came up around Axel, blocking the spin-attack, but falling when the Heartless did its follow-up lunge. Axel turned back to the monster in time to catch one of its blades in his side. Exclamations of profanity flew from his mouth as he jumped away from the blade, summoning his chakrams as he landed. He threw them at the Zip Slasher, which immediately flipped into a back handspring. Kairi slid into place behind it as it landed, jabbing her Keyblade into its armor between the helmet and the torso. The Zip Slasher's head flew off, arcing three feet through the air before fading into darkness, the rest of its body soon joining it in its plight. A heart escaped from the retreating darkness, flying upward to join Kingdom Hearts.

Axel swore again, placing one hand on the wall to balance himself, and placing the other against his injured hip. "I haven't gotten hit that bad since... eh, nevermind."

Kairi paled at all the blood staining his coat and dripping onto the ground. She quickly leveled her Keyblade with Axel and said, "Cura!"

The gash was sealed within seconds, the only evidence being the tear and remaining blood on his coat. Axel straightened, examining it quickly before smirking. "_Nice._ You learned that pretty quick."

"I've been here for almost eight weeks. You were gone at C.O. a long time."

"Still, it's pretty impressive to learn Cura in that short of a time." Axel finally turned back to her, and casually crossed his arms. "Now, next time we get in a fight, don't pull a me and drag it out. When your enemy is down, _destroy it._ Got it memorized?" She nodded, though somewhat uncertainly. He did not seem to notice. "Good. Hn, maybe you're not so bad after all."

Kairi crossed her arms and scowled at her partner. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He chuckled and waved it off, turning to the Tram Yard's entrance. "C'mon. I've got somewhere to be, and you've got to RTC."

"Do I have to write the report alone?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it when I make it back to the castle." As they neared the exit from the Tram Common, Axel stopped, and held up a hand for Kairi to stop as well. "On second thought... would you like to join me?"

"Join you with what?"

"The icing on the cake." Axel spun around and walked deeper into the Tram Common. Kairi followed a few feet behind him, noting how he did not try to hide them from the active civilians like he had earlier. Most of the people did not seem to notice them, anyway. They stopped in front of the candy shop. "Two sea-salt ice creams, please!"

As the woman retrieved the goods, Axel looked down to Kairi's questioning stare. "What? You yourself said it's the best thing in the worlds."

"I was quoting you."

"That can be a very good or a very bad thing. Don't do it around Saïx." Axel dropped the munny for the ice cream on the counter, then received the two sticks from the woman, who wished for them to have a very pleasant day. Axel handed Kairi one of the sticks, then set off for the Tram Station. "I meet Roxas and Xion up on the clocktower after work every day. They're probably already up there right now."

* * *

"Marco!" Axel yelled as he and Kairi reached the top of the stairs that lead up to the tower. He rounded the corner, Kairi a halfstep behind. "You're supposed to say Polo back."

"Why?" Roxas asked, turning from the sunset to see the two. "Kairi?" Xion turned when he said this, both of them looking surprised.

"I don't know why. You just do." Axel sat on the far side of Roxas and swung his legs over the side of the tower. "I figured it wouldn't be a problem if she joined us for a sunset."

"Fine with me," Xion said. She patted the spot next to her, and Kairi gratefully sat down. "Does she... know?"

"Haven't told her yet."

"Told me what?"

"I'll tell you later." Axel lifted his so far untouched ice cream stick and waved it at Kairi. "You may now take the first bite."

He had so far forbidden her to do so, and it was starting to melt, so she was more than happy to bite into the corner of the blue stick. Xion, Roxas, and Axel all watched her in anticipation for her reaction. "It's salty... but sweet too."

"Where have I heard that before?" Roxas turned to Axel and grinned. Axel grinned back at him and held up his free hand, his palm facing Roxas. "What?"

Axel sighed and shook his head, but kept his hand raised. "Roxas, new concept. It's called a high-five. When I hold up my hand like this, you do yours like that and we clap them together."

"Why would you do that?" Xion leaned forward to look around Roxas to Axel.

"It means victory. It's something that friends do." Axel raised his eyebrows at Roxas, and the blonde boy slowly lifted his hand, then slapped it at Axel's. "We'll work on it..."

"How'd your mission go?" Xion asked after Roxas and Axel had tried a few more attempts and given up for the time.

"Fine. We found that Zip Slasher that you and Marluxia reported a while back, Roxas."

No. XIII stiffened. "Did you get rid of it? Lots of people have been seeing it, but it never sticks around long enough for us to go and kill it!"

"You can think about it no more! Kairi decapitated it and sent it straight back to the Realm of Darkness. Left us a nice heart behind. How'd you guys do?"

"Agrabah is completely clean of the Shadow Globs!" Roxas lifted his ice cream into the air resolutely. "They won't be back any time soon."

"I still can't..." Xion's voice faded, and her head shifted slightly. It was hard to tell with the hood on, but Kairi was relatively sure Xion was looking at her. The girl lifted her empty ice cream stick at Kairi. "Swear it stays on the clocktower?" Kairi tapped her stick against Xion's, silently promising not to share anything that was passed between the four. "I still can't summon my Keyblade! I can hardly remember how I even did it in the first place."

"It'll come back to you," Axel said, not a bit concerned for otherwise and not taking his eyes off of the sun.

"When did this start happening?" Kairi asked.

"When I was sent after that Veil Lizard several days ago. That's why I never came back. I couldn't defeat it." Xion turned to Kairi, her lips pulled into a straight line. "You swore not to tell anyone. If this gets back to Saïx, they'll turn me into a Dusk."

"The secret's safe with me." Kairi smiled at the girl, whose lips turned up in return. The two turned back out to the sunset. "The entire town looks different from so high up. You can get a much better view of the sunset, too."

The conversation rose and fell for the next hour that the four sat on the clock tower, the highlight, in Kairi's mind, being after she had to explain why she had no shoes and Axel told them various stories of him losing clothing articles on missions. Somewhere amid the laughs and contented silences, Xion had pulled her hood off, showing Kairi that Roxas was right: they really did look a lot alike.

* * *

**A/N Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I own nothing but the plot.**

**Thought: Would anyone bite me if I made the trio a quartet?**

**So, what do you guys think the three best things in the worlds are?**


End file.
